Manchester City monitoring Eto'o and Henry

Greater Manchester regional newspaper Manchester Evening News claims that Manchester City is still closely monitoring the situation of Barcelona forwards Samuel Eto'o (28) and Thierry henry (31) and could act if the players become officially available during the summer transfer window.

The English Premier League has neverthless not yet made an official bid for the Cameroonian striker, for whom Barcelona could possibly ask a transfer price of close to 40 million euro° (read more here).

British sports site BBC Sport meanwhile nevertheless also claims that Manchester City and Barcelona officials met on Monday to discuss the possible transfer of Eto'o despite the meeting being described by Manchester City manager Mark Hughes as a contact-building exercise (read more here). Eto'o is said to be rated 45 million euro°.

Mark Hughes insisted at a press conference yesterday that Manchester City and Barcelona haven't been talking about a transfer of Eto'o but confirmed that there has been a meeting between Barcelona president Joan Laporta and Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook:

"I thought that was clarified. It was basically a meeting between Garry Cook and Laporta of Barcelona basically to try and build relationships with clubs at all levels business-wise and football-wise. I think the explanation of the meeting was well documented in the papers. It wasn't talking about individuals, it was about talking about relationships with both clubs.

People will always mis-interpret the message that we are trying to put out there and make their own interpretation of what the meeting was about, but it wasn't to discuss players, it was to discuss things in the future that could complement both clubs. We still have ambitious transfer targets, but that isn't the reason why Garry Cook and Laporta spoke on Monday."

Read more:
Barcelona offers Eto'o to English clubs
Manchester City and Barcelona holding talks