Manchester City News 24/7Writer: Johnny Baguette 
Date:Monday June 29 2009
Time: 1:05PM
UK time is: 15:46:00
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City's Big Week Moves On With Or Without Eto'o
Barçelona President Joan Laporta has blown City's cover over The Blues' move for Samuel Eto'o. Dracula Berlusconi did likewise over Kakagate. So which way will this one go?
It's been a fascinating 24 hours or so following the developments surrounding what we now know to be City's bid of around £25 million for the mercurial Eto'o's services. And in surreal terms that's £5 million less than the rags paid to Lids for Rio Ferdinand so it would represent something of a bargain!
Still, all we can deal in are facts right now.
First, Laporta revealed that Eto'o has a serious offer on the table from City, albeit not in the same martyrdom seeking snidey way that Berlusconi did over AC Milan devotee Kaka.
Second, according to the Spanish media and Parisian airport contacts the player himself returned to Europe from a tribute game in the Reunion Islands to spend a few days in Paris with his wife whilst awaiting developments.
Finally, Eto'o's agent has now announced a press conference tomorrow to clarify the players position.
In amongst all this the media are shifting into an overdrive of speculation as they attempt to guess and then second guess the figures involved. We've even seen the BBC announce City's bid had been accepted by the Catalan giants this morning only for them to rapidly change that story into a bid has been lodged confirmation.
To date, City have maintained a dignified silence over the move for Eto'o, but we can expect to hear some sort of statement within the next 48 hours.
In the meantime, the club continue to make good of their commitment to complete the bulk of the squad rebuilding by the time pre season training starts. We can be sure that this week will bring us yet more twists and turns.
Vital MC will continue to monitor the border crossings, airport terminals and National Express depots in order to keep you informed of the very latest developments.
Our maine man Tudor is at Eastlands today viewing City's new official website and will be knocking on a few doors, so stay tuned!
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Your Comments
I'm sick of this i've got no bloody nails left LOL
SIR TROYSTER
Have a funny feeling its gonna be another Kaka.
CTID (we dont need him anyway :))
jigga1233
Eto'o has been at war with Barcelona for over a year which is why they tried to sell him at the beginning of last season, but he refused to go. He wants £13M out of the transfer fee and he will not sign with anyone until he gets it. He is now showing his true colours cutting off his nose to spite his face to get back at Laporta.
There was always a 50/50 chance his good behaviour during the season was just a smokescreen. We need to get out a statement as a club covering ourselves just incase this turns into a farce.
City Girl
From his agents comments, he doesn't want to come and fair enough. Why would he? Fancy going from winning the treble and scoring an abundance of goals to mediocrity without Champions League football.
johnnywarren
It looks as though Barcelona are cloaking themselves in cynicism. If their bid for Villa doesn't succeed then they need to keep Eto'o, even though their manager would prefer Villa to the City target.
Sindbad
Eto'o is Citys smokescreen to cover Villa the big signing?
mcfcthriller
Mcfcthriller: If only Villa would leave Spain but he is too much of a home boy like Bianchi.
City Girl
And in surreal terms that's £5 million less than the rags paid to Lids for Rio Ferdinand so it would represent something of a bargain! I dont know if you were being sarcastic, but generally speaking 25 mil for a player who has 12 months to run on his contract is not much of a bargain. How come Man City seem keener to Bolster the attack rather than the defense. Only the top 4 scored more yet you conceeded 50 goals. I would suggest 20-2-25 mil on a great CB although they can be hard to come by.
paul_ownz
Don't you just hate these clubs that spend, spend, spend :-)
merlin
I hope that City will not end up as being the fools in this transfer. If Eto'o is hesitating, then, lets move on to the next target.
Buzz Lightyear
lol paul! Got to keep that cross town baiting factor ticking over, you know.
Johnny Baguette
It is simple what is going on. He is happy with our terms and no doubt he has told us that weeks ago when the Mail published the story. However, he wants a £13M/15M euro signing on fee from the transfer fee.
His lawyer (as he is his own agent), we will let you know tomorrow, is to get Barcelona to agree to pay it to him tonight or to lower the fee and we pay him at our end.
So, Barcelona have to decide tonight if £12M plus the saving of his £6M salary is better than nothing and having to buy Villa and pay the both of them for a season with Eto'o causing trouble from the bench.
Don't lose heart. What option would you take?
City Girl
I'd turn out for City for nowt of course and we all nearly had to a few years back the way it was going! I'm getting uncomfortable with all this. It's all too public, and it's down to another Euro giants President gobbing off. Difficult situation for City again, but I sense our owners won't be crapped on again and will move on accordingly if neccessary.
Johnny Baguette
Johnny Baguette: I agree, it is also annoying bec it is all avoidable. Why can't we as a club put out a statement so it is our comments that are feeding the media frenzy and leading the agenda. What does it take to say that there is a disagreement over a signing on fee and that we are not prepared to pay it. So it is a situation for Eto'o and Barcelona to sort out or the deal is off and we give them a date to sort it by. That leaves us in control and also sends out the message that we will not be creamed for any more money from either party.
We are never proactive and always reacting to events.
We will never get privacy bec a lot of club Presidents have to answer to their fans.
We pay a fortune for PR consultants and don't manage the media for our own ends. We will always be vulnerable to reputational damage bec everyone is free to get their interpretation in first. All the new management and consultants and still amateur and clueless when it comes to protecting the clubs reputation and updating the fans. Sorry, rant over.
City Girl
hahahahahahah... Snubbed again.. Money can't buy glory, look at Chelsea.. You are second Chelsea without CL football and you will get in in 3-5 years. You are not even in Europa League - shame on players with such huge price tags.. funny funny..
P.S. ManU bought a young one of the best CBs in the World for 30 mil and you want to lure a player with one year left in contract for 25 mil..
Leonax
Leonax: Nothing is more tiresome than reading utterly boring repetitive comments from a man without the intelligence to support Man City.
City Girl
i'm just kidding, you are not a club to worry about in future.. Take it easy, your fellow city mates always post their caustic comments on other vital football sites..
Leonax
finally, i see city fans really obsessed with Man Utd.. You always mention United in your articles - that's really interesting. On other sites no one bothers to mention Citeh on their own vital football sites...
Leonax
lol,fair comment, city girl, you have to make allowences for the mentally disadvantaged, his doctor has not got him on the right prescription drugs yet....poor lost soul....
cityman51
leonax, have you read the article above? always mention united? where?
Buzz Lightyear
So it all comes down to Barca as to whether they get Villa and are prepared to give away half the transfer fee to the greedy only in it for the money or I would tell Man City (WHO???) to ***** off ****. Why not make it easy and cough up the required cash to make it happen. Its only 12-15m and it is not like you dont have the cash.
GreenGiant13
Stunning. Once again we get a line dredged out that it's ok for the rags to spend big but not the likes of liddle ciddy. Then there was last summer's Berbatov panic buy who with the same miles on the clock as Eto'o, went for considerably more than this City bid. Now Leonax is a rag. Anyone who refers to the rags as "ManU" has to be. Get yourself over to rag smugfests like UWS or RI, mate. you'll find plenty of references and articles to City with a little c. "Shame on players with such huge pricetags"? You're not Mark Lawrenson are you? "MU" for sale this autumn.
Johnny Baguette
GreenGiant13: Eto'o hates the Barcelona President and doesn't want them pocketing the whole transfer fee. Even if we offered him +15M he would still be demanding his cut of the 30. We are in the middle of a cat fight between two egos.
City Girl
JohnnyBaguette: you are so right. Could not believe SKY asking the guy from FIFA/UEFA what he thought about OUR spending! Someone needs to give them a good kicking via a mighty share purchase.
City Girl
I'm pleased we're keeping a dignified silence, it's how business should be done. So we lose Eto'o but gain Tevez. Such is life, politics brought us Robinho and lost us Eto'o and Kaka, swings and roundabouts. Any proven world-class player is a bonus at the moment, a top 4 finish this season and the best will come next year. It's a long-term project, not a one season assault on the title.
BitterBlue
Personally i dont have a problem with how much you spend on the transfer fee. You have to pay large sums to secure the services of big players. I do however have a problem with the over the top beyond excessive wages to line these greedy C**** pockets. 250k a week?
paul_ownz
Guys the press conference is on now. I am listening but missed the start.
City Girl
No! they have just switched from Spanish to Catalan!!
City Girl
A press conference in 2 languages is insane when one isn't spoken outside of Calaunya. We are wasting our time with this guy. He is calling Barcelona, its directors and the managers for not saying straight out they did not want him yet they were trying to get rid of him last season.
Then he went through a history of events (in his lawyers version of the truth) that included:
That incl he did not speak to to us until Monday! which is hardly believable.
-Was happy with the deal then starts calling Joan Laporta for broadcasting the details to make Eto'o look like a money grabber.
-His lawyer is now denying that Eto'o wants half the transfer fee.
-He wants to stick out the remaining year of his contract (but that appears impossible after criticising everyone)
-Sorry, not even sure where that leaves us. Unless I missed something in the Catalan bits.
We need to get away from this rabel right now. It is not even our fight.
City Girl
I cut out the stuff about the rogue 2yr sontract offer and moaning over the transfer amount. So he wants to stay but has not ruled out leaving. Great.
What about Sergio Aguero, Benzema, Luis Fabiano etc..?
City Girl
Now the catalan bits that I did not understand are appearing in the Barcelona press. Basically they are saying Eto'o has not turned us down bec he has yet to see an offer.
This whole press conference was not about if he was coming to us it was to blame Barcelona incase he accepts our offer and leaves.
At least you read it here first!
City Girl
I don't understand why Citeh chase all the top-class forwards? There are not so pitiful...You already have Santa-Cruz, Bellamy, Robinho, Benjany, Evans, Bojinov and Tevez likely.. Don't you care about your defense? I've heard only about Lescott interest..
Leonax
Caicedo and Jo also*
Leonax
We need a guaranteed 20 goal a season striker rather than hoping they deliver. In close games we almost always miss the one chance that needs to be taken. We are a 3-0 or 0-1 team so we need a top class striker to change the latter.
Leonax: I apologise for my harsh comment last night.
City Girl
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