■SPAIN
Eto’o receives huge offer
Barcelona have received a “stratospheric” offer for their Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, but they want him to stay, club chairman Joan Laporta said on Sunday. “He has a stratospheric offer which would make him the world’s best-paid player,” Laporta told Spanish radio in comments published on the club’s Web site. However, Laporta has said all along he wants to keep the forward, while sports daily AS reported last week that there was a dearth of offers for the star, who bagged 30 goals in La Liga last season and also hit the opener in the 2-0 Champions League final win over Manchester United. “I think Eto’o would like to stay and I would like him to,” Laporta said. Eto’o’s current contract only runs for another year and AS indicated wage demands of some 10 million euros (US$14 million) a year were frightening off top clubs, although big-spending English Premier League club Manchester City, French side Lyon and Italy’s Inter are all said to be interested.
■SPAIN
Real make Benzema offer
Real Madrid have offered 32 million euros (US$45 million) for Lyon striker Karim Benzema after switching their attention to the France international from Valencia forward David Villa, sports daily Marca reported on Sunday. Marca said the French have yet to respond to Real’s offer, but last week Bernard Lacombe, adviser to Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas, told Marca that “nothing is impossible and if we receive a good offer, we will not close the door to anyone.” Lyon’s director of communications Olivier Blanc said merely that “the only news is Real Madrid contacted Olympique Lyon a few days ago to discuss Karim Benzema. Benzema and Olympique Lyon confirmed his initial desire is to stay another year with Lyon.” Manchester United are also admirers of Benzema, but Real have decided to swoop now given the reluctance of Valencia’s new chairman Manuel Llorente to sell them Spain striker Villa.
■ITALY
Wolfsburg deny Dzeko move
German champions VfL Wolfsburg are refusing to sell Edin Dzeko to AC Milan, the Bosnian striker said on Sunday. “Wolfsburg won’t let me go. Everyone knows that Milan are the team of my dreams, but I can not do anything,” the 23-year-old told Italy’s Sky television. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, looking for a new attacker after selling playmaker Kaka to Real Madrid, is not giving up despite Wolfsburg’s stance. “We will wait until the end of next week,” he told reporters. The Rossoneri chief also reiterated that striker Alexandre Pato will not be leaving the San Siro despite media reports saying former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti had bid 60 million euros (US$84 million) to take the Brazilian to Chelsea.
■AUSTRALIA
Wolves, Fulham sales flop
A plan to showcase two English Premier League teams in Australia next month is threatening to be a flop because of a lack of early interest from local fans. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham have been booked to play double-headers against Australian A-League clubs Perth and North Queensland. However, with less than two weeks to go before the first match, local officials said they had only sold about 9,000 tickets for the two double-headers. “I am staggered actually — I thought that the games would have been sold out within a week or two,” Perth owner Tony Sage told local radio. “It’s just disappointing to me that we haven’t even gone half way to selling out.”
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