Eto'o wants to negotiate renewal in the summer

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona wants to renew the contract of Barcelona forward and Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o (27), whose current contract expires in 2010, or sell the player in the summer.

Barcelona's first option is the renewal of Eto'o but the club doesn't want the negotiations to drag on and is keeping an eye on the market in case a renewal deal wouldn't be found.

Eto'o would also want to renew the contract but wants to focus on football first. The player's agent Josep Maria Mesalles is quoted as saying that they don't want to talk in the coming months: "I already said before, and Eto'o has confirmed it, that we will talk about the future at the end of the season.

This is not to put some more pressure on the club or to gain more time. The player is happy, Barcelona has still a lot to fight for and I think that at this moment the most wise thing is to focus all efforts on trying to win the three trophies that are still in play. When all this comes to an end, that will be the moment to negotiate."

Asked about the future of Eto'o, the player's brother David Eto'o said in an interview with Catalan radio station Onda Cero that the Cameroonian won't leave the club: "The fans can be calm because me brother is and will continue to be a Barça player. If the club wants, I think he will renew. If the club doesn't want it, that's when he'll start to look for another club."

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Eto'o plans to ask for a pay rise of a little one million euro net, which would make him earn as much as Messi is doing at this moment. Barcelona would like to reach an agreement before the start of next season. Madrid news agency EFE claims that Barcelona will wait until the end of the season to see what will happen but that the club is already looking for alternatives.

Asked about his future, Eto'o meanwhile repeated earlier this week in an interview with French radio station Europe 1 that he doesn't exclude playing in France one day: "I still adore Paris Saint-Germain, even though I've always said that I would like to play with Marseille for one season. If one day I decide to come to France, I would like it to be at Marseille but why not somewhere else? But I won't deny that, given the current circumstances, it will difficultly happen."

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