Manchester City last night pulled out of the race to sign Samuel Eto’o after growing tired of the Barcelona striker’s failure to respond to their stunning offer of £180,000 a week after tax.
City expect to clinch a deal with Carlos Tevez in time to unveil him on Tuesday and are planning a further move for John Terry but have given up on Cameroon striker Eto’o.
Chief executive Garry Cook said: ‘Samuel Eto’o is undoubtedly a fine footballer but the circumstances surrounding him were such that the deal could not be completed.
'We now feel the time is right to pursue other avenues and we have a clear and strategic transfer plan, which we continue to follow.’
The news surrounding Tevez is far more positive for City fans, however. Sources at Eastlands are convinced they have beaten off interest for Tevez from Chelsea to
land the former West Ham and Manchester United striker for £25.5million.
And City are also quietly confident they can tie up a deal for Chelsea and England captain Terry before they fly to South Africa on a pre-season tour on Wednesday.
Chief executive Cook flies back to Manchester this weekend after attending Robinho’s wedding in Brazil and will spend Monday putting the finishing touches to the Tevez deal before turning his attention to Terry.
Chelsea themselves are keen to have Terry’s future resolved before they set off on a pre-season tour of the United States on Thursday.
He had brief discussions with owner Roman Abramovich’s closest aide, Eugene Tenenbaum, on his return to training on Thursday but more serious talks with either chief executive Peter Kenyon or even Ambramovich himself are planned for early next week.
It seems they will have plenty to discuss, with City poised to raise their bid for Terry to £35m and offer him £200,000 a week to join Mark Hughes’s squad.
The official line from Chelsea remains that they do not wish to sell Terry and that their skipper wants to stay. However, much could depend on whether they are prepared to increase the 28-year- old defender’s £130,000-a-week wage by around another £20,000.
Should Terry opt to stay at Chelsea, he is likely to appear at a press conference alongside his new manager Carlo Ancelotti before the trip to the States.
If not, then the possibility remains that Terry could be joining his new City teammates
in South Africa.
While Terry is tempted by the goings on at Eastlands, the same cannot be said for Eto’o.
According to reports in Spain the Cameroon striker has turned down the chance of a two -year contract extension at the Nou Camp and is ready to leave this summer rather than see out the remaining year of his current deal.
But it seems Eto’o would prefer to wait and see if an offer from the likes of Manchester United or AC Milan is forthcoming despite City having agreed a £25m fee with Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Robinho’s marriage to childhood sweetheart, Vivian Guglielmetti, in Guaruja, Brazil on Thursday afforded the City star the opportunity to reacquaint himself with his former employer, Santos president Marcelo Teixeira.
And although Robinho left the Brazilian side in acrimonious circumstances, Teixeira
wasted no time trying to talk the skilful forward into a return to the Sao Paulobased
club.
‘Now that he is married and calm, it will be easier for him to return to play at Santos,’
he said. ‘It is a plan that both he and I have. I wish he could return to the club as
soon as possible.’
Such claims were no doubt taken with a pinch of salt by Cook, who was joined by a
star-studded collection of Brazil stars at the ceremony, including Robinho’s Eastlands
team-mate Elano, £56m Real Madrid man Kaka , former Arsenal forward Julio Baptista and his national team boss Dunga.
Money issues aside, Terry is also understood to be concerned at the lack of serious
movement by Chelsea in the transfer market, with Yuri Zhirkov their only major
capture of the summer along with youngsters Ross Turnbull and Daniel Sturridge.
The fact that City are in the market for players of the calibre of Tevez and Eto’o,
having already landed Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry, is certainly a statement of intent by their hugely wealthy Arab owners and may prove just as appealing to Terry as the cash on offer at Eastlands.
But given the difficulty in signing either Terry or Eto’o, and the debacle of City’s attempt to sign Kaka last January, it is clear their wealth is still not attracting the marquee names.
That would all change were they able to offer Champions League football, a situation that might well become reality next summer should Hughes be able to add more high-calibre players.
Hughes wants a sense of clarity about his squad. As long as Eto’o dithered, such a position was impossible to achieve, leading to last night’s statement.
Meanwhile it has emerged that City's England defender Micah Richards contracted swine flu during the summer while on holiday in Ayia Napa.
The illness was diagnosed and treated in Cyprus, but the star of Stuart Pearce’s successful Under 21 side was then kept in isolation when he returned home.
He has now fully recovered and is with City’s squad for their pre-season trip to Germany.
