Samuel Eto'o - Photo makeroadssafe CCANCND
Are we about to see the end of one tedious transfer rumour saga in the next day or two? The Sun and the Mirror clearly think so - they’ve got the lowdown on the Samuel Eto’o Manchester City deal, and they know that there’s a deadline in place:
Mirror: Samuel Eto’o given 24 hour deadline to sign for Manchester City
Sun EXCLUSIVE: City D-Day for Eto’o
All seems fairly clear then - there’s a deadline in place and we’ll know what’s happening soon. Not a real deadline of course, given that the only real deadline is August 31st, but a pretend deadline, which injects a little urgency. And we can wait another 24 hours, can’t we?
Well, we would if D-Day, as the Sun’s headline suggested, was actually a day, but it is in fact a weekend:
MANCHESTER CITY have given Barcelona a weekend deadline over Samuel Eto’o.
City thought they had a deal in place when the Spanish giants accepted a £25million offer for the Cameroon hitman.
Eto’o agreed wages of £200,000 a week - after tax - but knows Barca are keen to cash in now with just one season left on his contract.
So he is holding out for half the fee Barca receive, arguing they could lose him for nothing as a free agent next year.
Now City have decided enough is enough and want a definite answer from the Spaniards in 48 hours.
A D-2-days then. Perhaps this will be the last of the Eto’o saga, but given that there’s not an agreement between the tabloids on the details, it casts an air of suspicion over the whole proceedings. Especially since this was a deal that the News of the World suggested was done as far back ago as June 27th. And if it’s true, as reports have it, that they have ’special’ access to the innermost thoughts of many people in the spotlight, you’d have thought that that would be true. And since it evidently wasn’t, why start trusting now?
As for deals that are bound to happen in the next few days, here’s a reminder of why the Eto’o deadline isn’t worth taking too seriously:
June 21st: Carlos Tevez agreed to join Manchester City TWO WEEKS ago - and will complete the s47.5 million transfer in the next few days.
19 days and counting, Alan Nixon.
