Simeone's Tiote offer rejected
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Oliver Kahn rejected an offer for Cheick Tiote, this time from Atletico de Madrid. Simeone wanted the 27 years old defensive midfielder, but, as always this Summer, Kahn isn't willing to listen to offers for his best players. The snubbed fee was about £7.75M in excess.
Cheick Ismaël Tioté, born 21 June 1986, is an Ivorian footballer who plays for Newcastle United and the Ivory Coast national team as a midfielder.
Tioté joined English Premier League side Newcastle United on 26 August 2010 for a fee of £3.5 million after he was granted a work permit. He made his debut on 18 September 2010 against Everton at Goodison Park. His debut was very successful – completing all of his 64 passes. He also made two interceptions, completed all five of his attempted tackles, and his only shot was on target. He started all of the Newcastle United's games, putting in strong performances against Manchester City and in the 2–1 away win over West Ham. Tioté received man of the match for his performance in the 1–0 away victory against Wigan Athletic.
He was sent off in 3rd Round FA Cup tie against Stevenage suffering a three match domestic ban, but scored a memorable first goal on his return, scoring a 25-yard volley for the late equaliser in a 4–4 draw against Arsenal, a game the Magpies trailed 0–4 at half time.
On 25 February 2011 Newcastle announced that Tioté had signed a new six-and-a-half-year contract to show his commitment to the club, keeping him at Newcastle until 2017. Upon signing his new deal, Tioté said
'The experience of playing in the Premier League has been better than I ever hoped it could be. This is a great club and the fans have been brilliant – I have never known support like it.'
After two seasons at Newcastle, Tioté picked up 25 yellow cards from 50 league games, a return of one yellow card every two games, but only received one, controversial red against local rivals Sunderland. He was sent off in Newcastle's 1–1 draw away to Sunderland on 21 October 2012 for a late challenge on Sunderland's Steven Fletcher.
On 12 August 2009, Tioté made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in a friendly match against Tunisia. He was selected in the Ivory Coast's squad for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations squad and given the squad number 9. He started in all three of Les Éléphants' matches before their quarter final elimination by Algeria. Tioté also started each of the Ivory Coast's 2010 FIFA World Cup matches in South Africa. However, the team did not advance to the second round. On 13 January 2012, Tioté was sent off for a "crazy challenge" in an 2012 Africa Cup of Nations warm up match against Tunisia. However, he was in the starting line-up for the Ivory Coast's opening two group matches and both the semi final and final, in which he scored the team's first kick in the penalty shootout defeat to Zambia. The following year, at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Tioté scored his first international goal in the 50th minute of their 2–1 quarterfinal loss to Nigeria.
Simeone is feeling sad about the rejected offer
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"I needed Cheick, he is a top player and missing him is a worry for our squad. Anyway, we knew that Newcastle's board are top negociators and losing him is not a very big dissapointment." declared Diego Simeone after he was snubbed by Oliver Kahn.
Also, Cheick Tiote declared exclussively for BBC Sport:
"Honestly, I haven't ever wanted to leave Newcastle since I came here and especially not now, when our goals are high. I want to make myself knew in Premier League as a very good player and not to leave Newcastle soon.".