Mail: Eto'o deal 'edging closer'

So claim Simon Jones and John Edwards in Thursday's Daily Mail:

City will pay a transfer fee of just under £30m, but will need to match Eto'o's wage demands of £192,000 a week AFTER TAX over the four-year-deal, making him the most expensive arrival in British football. Having Eto'o on the pay roll will cost in excess of £320,000-aweek (£16.6m a year), more than twice as much as leading Barclays Premier League stars such as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

Barcelona sources say the deal, which Sportsmail exclusively revealed this month, is almost complete. It represents outstanding business for the Spanish champions as the 28-year-old has only one year left on his contract, and he would have been able to leave on a free transfer next summer.

Those numbers are pretty ludicrous, but if I was going to be actually put off by football clubs spending obscene prices on players, I would have got off the bus some time ago. The point is that we, almost alone among football clubs, can afford to meet the demands of players like Eto'o and so we can reap real advantages from it. I'd still be surprised if we manage to pull this one off, simply because I think Eto'o has too much self-regard to leave the European champions for a mid-table English side. But if he does come to City, we'll worry more than just Everton and Aston Villa. One to start taking a bit more seriously, perhaps? I'll believe it when I see it.