City make ‘stratospheric’ bid for Eto’o

Manchester City has made a "straospheric" bid for Barcelona's Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o, according to sources at the Catalan club, reports the Daily Telegraph. The Eastlands club will pay the European champions £25m for the 28-year-old, and will then hand a weekly salary of £192,000 a week after tax - which equates to £16.5m when tax is taken into account. Despite public protestations to the contrary, Barcelona will be happy to have Eto'o off their balance sheet, as he currently earns £128,000 a week at the Camp Nou...

Meanwhile, AC Milan has started its pursuit of Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, according to the Daily Mail. Last summer the Italians came closer to securing Adebayor's signature, but were denied when he re-signed for Arsenal. This time round, if they miss out on Wolfsburg's Bosnian international Edin Dzenko then they will swoop for Arsenal's Togolese traget man. "Adebayor is the alternative to Dzeko," said Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani. "I've called Arsenal to inform them of our interest. I've spoken to Arsene Wenger and Adebayor was part of the conversation"...

The Daily Mirror claims that Manchester United is on the verge of completing their first signing of the close season - the £16m capture of Wigan Athletic's Luis Antonio Valencia. The Ecuadorian winger is reported to have cut short a trip to his homeland and will undergo a medical at Old Trafford today. Valencia is seen as a long-term replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo...

Fernando Torres has asked his Liverpool manager and fellow Spaniard Rafael Benitez to sign a trio of their countrymen, the Guardian reveals this morning. "English football is very difficult because it's very physical and played at a high tempo," Torres said. "We have a fantastic team to play against the big teams and we are competitive. We have some very good players but maybe we need other players. I hope Liverpool will bring people like David Silva, Juan Mata or David Villa. These are small players with quality like United had with Carlos Tevez and also with Paul Scholes"... ·