Wenger will not force Toure

The Belgian side denied reports earlier this year that The Gunners had agreed a deal for Toure and now they have reiterated their position.

Stories in the English press claimed that the Ivory Coast international would be joining his brother Kolo at Highbury in January.

Beveren do have an official link-up with Arsenal, which was helped by the friendship manager Arsene Wenger has with the Belgium's club supremos Jean Marc Guilllou and Regis Laguesse.

Despite their relationship, Laguesse has now explained to planetfootball.com that Toure has not agreed anything with Arsenal.

He does though talk about the Belgium club's close ties with Wenger and admits that Toure would be an attractive and likely proposition for The Gunners.

"The situation is the same, there is nothing new with Yaya," said Laguesse responding to the media reports in England.

"We have an agreement with Arsenal as a club, we see them every week, someone from Arsenal comes to every game as we have three (Liam Chilvers, John Halls and Graham Stack) of their players on loan.

"This is not a new situation."

Laguesse admitted that Toure would only move to Highbury, if Wenger thought he was good enough.

"You know Arsene, Yaya would not go to Arsenal simply because we are all friends.

"Yaya would be a good player for them, but at the moment that would be impossible.

"He has not been an international for two years and he is only in his second year in Belgium and he needs to be here for four years to get a passport.

"He will be in Belgium in January.

"We are waiting to see what happens, but it is important for us to keep Yaya, he is very important to us. We need him."

Laguesse also doubted that Arsenal would press ahead with any move for Toure in the near future.

"I think Arsenal are waiting for Yaya, he is not a priority to them and he is not urgent, he is only 19.

"I think he would be better off playing in Belgium every week and develop his game, it would be better for Arsenal if they went for him later.

"He is a very good player, he is better than his brother - he may not quite be up with him now, but the possibilities are very good with him.

"Arsene first knew Yaya five years ago from Africa, he knows all about him and will not rush anything."

Arsenal are now being forced into moving for Toure, although they are aware that a number of other clubs have been alerted to his performances.

Although Beveren would not confirm it, Wenger obviously has first option on Toure but an imminent move would look to be highly unlikely at this stage.

Toure's contract at Beveren is due to expire in 2004 - by which point he will have been playing international football for two years and this seems the most likely point that the youngster will switch to Arsenal, should he accept a move to North London.