Re: Samuel Eto'o [merged]
The goal article is refering to this
"Valencia is not negotiating or has negotiated anything with Barcelona at all," Llorente said, when asked about the possible transfer of David Villa at club azulgrana.
The president 'Che' refused to make any comment, however, a meeting between Raul and Txiki Begiristain Sanllehi with the representative of Villa in Asturias, but left sensing that he had not liked: "That I am to see if people directly, "he said.
"They're very appealing players in international football and it is not uncommon for teams wishing important," he concluded.
That's from Sport.es
It simply means Barcelona haven't formally made an offer to Valencia. Without sounding like Gulliem Balague, Barcelona won't make an offer until they reach some form of agreement with Eto'o as they can't offer a definitive amount of money without assurances of receiving a fixed amount from us.
For example it's been reported that Barca have around 25m euros to spend. They cannot offer 40m euros to Valencia for Villa as they don't have the money to do so. So until something happens on the Eto'o front, they can't do much unless they find money from somewhere just like Real have. They also want to sign (if spanish press are to be believed) Mascherano and Luis (defender from deportivo) for a combined cost of around 35m euros. This is why they are holding out on Eto'o
Nobody needs to worry about the article. It's been very well documented in both Catalan newspapers that Villa has had an informal meeting in a restaurant with Txiki Begiristain which apparently went 'much smoother than dealing with Eto'o' and i think Barca are expecting Villa to say he wants to move to Barca. That alone may knock his price down a little bit given that Barca are the only club they can really sell to.
Villa will most likely go to Barca and then we will have Eto'o. Perfect for all parties...which is something Laporta seemed to be bleating on about before - 'we will do what is best for both parties (Eto'o+Barca).
