Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved to Barcelona from Inter Milan and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o went the other way on Monday in a swap deal worth more than 66 million euros (US$94.14 million).
The two forwards signed five-year contracts, both clubs said in statements.
With Eto’o being valued at 20 million euros, Barcelona announced they were paying a separate 46 million euro fee and loaning Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb to Inter for the season.
Italian champions Inter, who have yet to confirm Hleb’s arrival, will have the chance to buy the former Arsenal player for 10 million euros plus variables next year.
Barca added that Ibrahimovic, 27, needs immediate surgery on a bone fracture in his left hand.
“I’m not coming as a substitute for Eto’o because I am a very different player. I come to bring something new,” Ibrahimovic told a news conference that had been delayed more than an hour due to a last-minute complication with the deal. “No one knows this but months ago I told [Inter president Massimo] Moratti I wanted to play for Barca. I told him there was only one team who would be able to buy me. There are many great clubs, but only one like Barcelona.”
Ibrahimovic passed a medical earlier in the day, though doctors detected the bone fracture in his left hand, picked up during Inter’s recent friendly against Chelsea. He was undergo surgery yesterday to fix the problem.
“The idea is that the player travels with us to the United States [on Wednesday],” sports director Txiki Begiristain said.
“We hope he might be able to play some minutes in the Hans Gamper Trophy [against Manchester City on Aug. 19] and that he will be fully recovered for the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup [against Athletic Bilbao on Aug 23]. We don’t want him to start playing here in pain.”
Ibrahimovic was presented with the number nine shirt and was welcomed by more than 50,000 fans on the Nou Camp pitch.
Eto’o flew to Milan earlier in the day before passing a medical. He was to be unveiled at a news conference at Inter’s training ground at 12:30pm GMT on yesterday.
The 28-year-old told the Inter Website (www.inter.it): “I made history at Barcelona, but that history is finished now. A new story begins at Inter. I’m starting from scratch, I want a new adventure and I hope everything goes well.”
Ibrahimovic will slot in alongside Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi in the heart of Barca’s three-pronged attack, and will be out to help them defend their European, and domestic league and cup titles.
Last term’s Serie A top scorer is Barca’s third close-season signing after Inter’s Brazilian left back Maxwell and Brazilian striker Keirrison, though the latter is to be sent out on loan.
Eto’o will play upfront alongside fellow new signing Diego Milito, who joined Inter from Genoa.
Jose Mourinho’s side have also brought in Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta from Genoa and defender Lucio from Bayern Munich as they bid to end their poor European form.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that