Barcelona president Joan Laporta met last night in Barcelona with Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti. Although both presidents didn't want to confirm the issues discussed, it is believed that a possible transfer of Inter forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (27) was the main reason for the meeting.
Nothing is certain but putting all pieces together, this blog can at least offer you this attempt to reconstruct the events.
(sources:
el mundo deportivo, la gazzetta dello sport, rac 1, sport, reuters)
On Thursday morning, Moratti met in Milan with Inter manager José Mourinho. The Portuguese gave the green light for the transfer of Ibrahimovic under the condition that Inter would get in return Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o (28) and a serious sum of cash, which would be used to sign Chelsea players Carvalho and Deco.
After the meeting with Mourinho, Moratti talked with Mino Raiola, the agent of Ibrahimovic, to explain him what had been decided in the meeting that had taken place. Raiola talked by phone with Ibrahimovic, who is preparing international games with Sweden, to inform him about the latest events.
Moratti decided to fly in the afternoon to Barcelona with his private jet. Barcelona president Joan Laporta cancelled a dinner in the Catalan town of Igualada, sixty kilometres to the east of Barcelona, and both presidents met at the Majestic hotel in the heart of Barcelona before heading to the Via Veneto restaurant where the two men arrived around 9.30-10 pm. Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain possible joined them there.
Moratti would have opened discussions by putting his offer on the table: Eto'o plus 30 to 40 million euro° for Ibrahimovic. Laporta had to admit that the Cameroonian striker at this moment doesn't seem very willing to leave the club this summer and tried to come up with alternatives.
Barcelona offered to include Barcelona attacker Alexander Hleb (28), whom Inter tried to sign last summer, in the deal, but this was rejected. Barcelona offered 40 million euro° plus one player, but Moratti returned to his initial asking price of 70 million euro° cash.
Inter would only be willing to change their minds and lower the amount to be paid in cash if one of the following three players is offered in exchange: Eto'o, Barcelona attacking midfielder Xavi (28) or Barcelona defensive midfielder Yaya Touré (26). Somewhere down the line, Inter left back Maxwell also appeared upon the table (27).
When the two president left the restaurant after midnight, Laporta said it had only been a dinner between friends: "We didn't profoundly discuss any issue. We just had a first contact, nothing has been decided." Moratti confirmed this and added that a swap deal including Ibrahimovic and Eto'o probably won't go through: "I don't think that's possible. I like Ibrahimovic a lot and Laporta likes Eto'o a lot."
Moratti returned this morning to Milan, while Raiola closed the debates for now telling reporters today that Ibrahimovic would welcome a move to Barcelona: "I only know that if the two clubs find an agreement we would not have trouble agreeing with Barcelona."
Read more:
1 Ibrahimovic - 2 Forlan - 3 Villa - 4 Benzema
Inter Milan interested in Hleb
Maxwell could be included in Eto'o deal
Friday, 5 June 2009
Meeting with Inter on Ibrahimovic: A reconstruction
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35 comments:
30 million euro =
42 million us dollar
26 millon british pound
40 million euro =
55 million us dollar
35 millon british pound
70 million euro =
97 million us dollar
61 millon british pound
nice! lets get started with out transfers. get Zhirkov/Filipe/Maxwell, a cover for Dany Alves, a mid fielder and Henrique. tats more than enuf to kick some Galacticos arse!
Yikes, 70 million. Even Eto'o + 30 million seems like crazy talk. Hleb + 40 is expensive but at least seems more reasonable. I can't believe they asked for Xavi or Yaya to just 'lower the fee'. We couldn't possibly swap Xavi even if it was straight up.
man i hope this issue will be discarded soon. if eto'o would extend his contract for 2 or 3 more years, how could anyone ask a fee of 30-40 mio euro PLUS eto'o?
if barce is willing to let eto'o go + this sum than they would do nothing else than buy ibrahimovic for 70 mio euro and that's an act they would never do. why not torres for 40-50 mio. that would be a better choice in any way. or villa for 35 mio euro. 70 mio euro???????? that's CRAZY. i would love to see ibrahimovic at barca but NEVER for so much money. we don't need to spend each cent we earned that season.
i really hope they'll go for another striker and i hope madrid will buy ibrahimovic so they can be destroyed by barca next season because they spent 240 mio euro without reaching anything.
Wouldn't sell Xavi for 250 mill and 10 Ibras. The man is the essence of Barça.
Yaya? Probably the best DM in the world at present. Not for sale.
Eto'o + 30 to 40 mill? Is he kidding?
After a 150+ goal season, including 100 from the 3 strikers, do we really need to buy another striker? Dont we have other targets this summer?
Why are these Italian clubs selling their most vital players for so much money, it is not going to make them any stronger.
One thing I don't understand -- if we want Ibrahimovic, wouldn't it be normal for Laporta to travel to Milan? I mean, Moratti is a bigshot and he wouldn't come to Barcelona to talk about HIS players which Barcelona wants.
Nonsense. Media crap.
Uhmmm, the pictures are real, so that they met is a fact. What they talked about, we will maybe know it later this summer...
i like the option of Ibra, but not for this money, is to much.. we must look for another player...
we should get martins from Newcastle.
we should get vila, at least every penalty will be a goal...
Keeping Eto'o is standing pat. This club can't stand pat. Does anyone think that the same stuff that worked this season is going to work next season? Doubtful. What's the plan B? Good question.
A club can't improve without risk. Selling Eto'o for another striker is definitely a risk. And in a world in which we paid some 40m for a right back (by the time you figure in incentives we must pay to Sevilla), is 70m for the man many consider the best striker in the world, really that outrageous?
Forlan's buyout clause is 36 million euro so Inter could actually swap Ibrahimovic for Eto'o plus Forlan (or Villa)...
Zlatan would be worth every €, weather it would be 70mio or 40mio plus Eto'o.
We should, of course, never part with Xavi, not for any price.
However Eto'o is a second rate striker, he has twice as many chances as any other in the league, yet he failed to win Pichichi.
With the season we had, a proper striker, like Zlatan or Pippo would have scored 50 league goals.
Yes. WTF. 70 million is completely outrageous. Kaka just sold for 65 million and he's
1. Younger - plus strikers don't age as well as midfielders
2. A Marketing Machine - on the level of Beckham. Ibrahimovic is also very popular but nowhere near Kaka who could pay himself eventually.
50 million maybe, 45+5. Anything more and I think we're paying too much.
"Søren Mortensen" agree with! Thats the bigest problem of Eto - finishing. He scoring using his power and speed, but he have bad finishing. In one on one is 50/50 % that he will score or not..
They are just sounding each other out, the point is inter is willing to sell ibra to us. Of course Moratti is gonna throw out numbers like 70 mil, thats how much real will spend on Kaka, unfortunately for him we arent madrid and Ibrah was never crowed the fifa world player of the year.
damn why do all clubs look to extort barcelona. 70million?? 40 and eto is like saying 70mil. we won't get ibra this way cause barca ain't real and we ain't going to pay that. yaya? i wouldn't trade him. xavi? he'll have to offer 75% of inter milan earnings every game he plays in if he want xavi.... ON LOAN.
he will eventually drop his price to 40 mil by july. kamikaze i think barcelona are trying to avoid what happened after 2006 when we didn't make any proper signings cause we won la liga and cl. the side totally declined for what reason i don't know, but laporta does and he is trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. new blood that are eager to win and fight to end are needed.
i congratulate laporta for not falling into maratti's litte game. don't pay the 70mil and don't trade eto with 40mil either. if anything eto+10 is good enough or just plain 40-45mil, that way we will have them both.
50 is even too much... eto'o + 10 mio would be okay because eto'o will miss about 6 weeks due to african cup. but no cent more than that.
compare ibrahimovic with villa:
-same age
-villa is available for half the price
-villa's skills, penalties, shots and passes are perfect. ibrahimovic't... too
-villa knows his spanish compatriots and the spanish league. he would fit better than brahimovic in barcas system for sure. ibr. maybe needs one season to get to his best.
Agreed. But how com they paid 40 mill euros( increasing yearly basis as well) for alves ??? dont you think then it is justied to pay 50-60 for zlatan ??? ofcourse the market dynamics have changed and i dont want them to loose zlatan to madrid.
They paid 29 + 6 for Alves. Sevilla president made an off hand comment about 40 million but I don't think he was being clear.
james- winning the treble has increased alves cost. he had incentives on the contract which will get sevilla more money based on his performance and what barca win, so winning treble increased it to like 41mil.
exactly i second what marc4barca said. it is more than 40 mill.
That's the +6 part...
Otherwise it would have been 29 + 12.
So far they've only gotten 2-3 million of the incentives. it's something like 750k for Champ's league qualification, 750k for winning Champ's league, 750k for winning Liga, and whatever for winning Copa del Rey. There are more incentives for qualifications and trophies next couple of years.
Right now it sits at 31 or 32 million euros.
The 41 million figure came from AS supposedly quoting the Sevilla president. This is completely unproven and untrue. They said the original amount was 35. They've likely confused the full amount 29+6 = 35 with the pre-incentive amount.
This is just the beginning of negotiations...if Ibra puts some pressure on inter the transfer fee will drop...
I think we'll end up doing Eto'o + 15-20
or Eto'o + Hleb +10
I really want to see us push for maxwell, esp. because santon has pushed him out of the team...
ok james letz hope they wont get tonsured by Sevilla. Btw i hope in end, they find an amicable settlement for Ibra issue and dont end up paying yoy like alves case.
too much money is in stake here.laporta aint fool, we dont pay that kind of money plus etoo.dont get nervous max etoo+20m will solve the thing if that happens so.
best choice is selling etoo to city for 40m and buy villa instead of him for 40m.
Never try to fix something that is not broken...
At the least the same combination should be tried for another year..
Ibra isn't worth any of our stars PLUS money. If Inter gave us Ibra and 50 mil, I would still not consider selling Iniesta, Xavi or Messi.
I rate Ibra highly but he isn't anywhere good enough to be compared and traded with Messi or Xavi or Iniesta.
The thing you Barca fans do not realize is that, Eto'o HAS to agree to any transfer situation. He has a contract with Barca through 2010, he may just want to see it through.
to be very honest wid you guys..
barca doesn't need ibra if its has to be this sought of a deal.
Barca is way better of signing some other good center forward than ibra as barca has got a reputation to keep.
Common guys we won the champions league players should be coming to us rather than we going to them.
I love eto'o, Xavi and toure so nobody is going any where..
70 mill is a lot , fuck this shit.
enough said
..lol
if we are to spend such an amount i want a younger striker with a future.the only ones i can think of are torres and benzema.if we are to get a player same age with eto i dont see why we should give 70mil....
u know what guys , i think Ibra is worth every penny that we pay (of couse not a trade with xavi )
and its clear that Ibra wants to leave inter and eto'o wants to leave barca no matter what eto 's agnet says. Villa would also be welcomed =D but he's no where near Ibra
First, Eto'o should stay.
Second, if he left, even though he's 28 he should still command a price fit for a top-3 striker in the world. He's scored more goals in a better league than Ibrahimovich, so the notion that the year younger commands 30-40 million Euros is hilarious. If Barca determine that Eto'o should go now for economic reasons (because for my money personal reasons are no longer an issue - he clearly loves the team/city/etc), then they should actually achieve an economic goal by his transfer. Losing that sum of money and him for another great striker (but not better) who's only a year younger would not achieve that goal. Eto'o plus 10 million tops, or Eto'o plus Hleb. That's the limit, otherwise it's a loss.
It's funny that Inter still thinks it's a club that can make such demands. Mourinho & Co. should wake up to the fact that being a big fish in a dilapadated pond isn't an ideal bargaining position.
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