Spanish and European champions FC Barcelona are still working on striking a deal with Italian champions Inter Milan for their star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It was reported earlier on Friday by Catalan sports dailySport ‘‘that Barcelona and Inter Milan have struck a Samuel Eto’o-Zlatan Ibrahimovic swap deal. According to the report, Barcelona were to pay Inter 40 million euros plus Samuel Eto’o in exchange for Ibrahimovic. In addition, the ‘‘Blaugrana ‘‘also had to give their midfielder Alexandre Hleb on loan for one season to the ‘‘Nerazzurri.
Inter president Massimo Moratti, though, insists that no deal has been struck yet and says that only negotiations have taken place. He is quoted as saying:
“I have met Laporta. We spoke about Eto’o and Ibrahimovic.”
However, Barcelona now say that they are doing all they can at the moment to secure a deal that would see the Swedish international striker don the Barcelona shirt next season.
Barcelona technical secretary Txiki Begiristain told Mundo Deportivo:
“We continue working on signings, including a striker. We are working on player signings and the exit of Samuel Eto’o. We are aware that the market needs to calm down after two crazy weeks of signings. We must see if we can work to sign more players and also to sell some. We would like to add one more player to the squad by July 27.
The signing of Ibrahimovic depends on the player himself, Samuel Eto’o and all the involved parties. The signing of David Villa is not ruled out. We have not ruled out any of the open possibilities.”