Football Talk - Eto'o close to Inter deal - 23/07/09
Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o is moving closer to a switch to Inter with Zlatan Ibrahimovic moving in the opposite direction, according to his agent.
The Cameroon striker's representative was in Milan on Wednesday and is close to completing a five-year contract for the 28-year-old. Barcelona have reportedly offered €45million plus Eto'o along with Alexander Hleb joining on a year-long loan in exchange for Swedish striker Ibrahimovic.
"We still have to work a lot," Josep Maria Mesalles said. ""We'll proceed negotiating tomorrow. There will be another meeting, but I'm very optimistic that we will reach an agreement in the near future. Even though there are still a couple of things that need to be discussed. Eto'o wants to come to Inter and he is very happy to come to Inter. We have taken a lot of steps forward. We're not there yet, but we I think we can complete the deal on Thursday."
The news comes amid reports that the deal had stalled after Eto'o allegedly sought a pay-off from Barcelona. Eto'o's contract with the Catalan outfit expires next summer and he reportedly wants the salary he would have earned from now until 2010 as compensation for leaving the club - in the region of €6m. La Gazzetta Dello Sport claimed that Barcelona were prepared to offer Inter €75million for Ibrahimovic, abandoning plans to insert Eto'o as part of the deal.
