Eto'o omitted as Makhachkala move nears
Reuters - Saturday 20 August 2011, 20:35
MILAN - Samuel Eto'o was left out of
Inter Milan's squad to face Olympiakos Piraeus in their final
pre-season friendly on Sunday amid media speculation a move to
Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala could be completed early next
week.
An Inter statement showed Eto'o was not in the squad for the
match in Geneva.
Italian media said Inter had verbally agreed to sell the
Cameroon striker after more than a week of talks and contracts
could be exchanged on Monday.
Reports have said wealthy Anzhi, who boast Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos and former Chelsea midfielder Yuri Zhirkov,
have bid just shy of 30 million euros for the
four-times African Footballer of the Year and plan to offer
Eto'o 20 million euros a year.
Eto'o, 30, made his name in Spain with Real Madrid and Real
Mallorca before winning the 2006 and 2009 Champions League with
Barcelona.
His first season at Inter in 2009/10 yielded a treble under
then-coach Jose Mourinho following a swap deal with Zlatan
Ibrahimovic.
Although the goals still flowed, Eto'o has never looked
entirely comfortable in Serie A and has not learned Italian.
If he leaves, it may open the door for Inter to bid for
Manchester City's unhappy forward Carlos Tevez after sporting
director Marco Branca was pictured talking to the Argentine on
holiday.
They have also shown intrest in Atletico Madrid's Diego
Forlan.