Source: Telegraph
Barcelona's David Villa bid offers Manchester City hope of signing Samuel Eto'o
Barcelona would need to sell Eto'o to fund the purchase of Villa, who has confirmed his desire to remain in Spain should he be sold by cash-strapped Valencia, with City able and willing to pay top price for the forward.
Inter Milan are also interested and, unlike City, would be able to offer the three times African Footballer of the year Champions League football.
However, City's huge spending power since the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group means they will be able to table a deal that will be difficult to turn down for both the player and the European champions, according to a report in the Times newspaper.
Should Barcelona's move for Villa progress at pace Eto'o could even be at Eastlands ahead of the club's pre-season tour of South Africa.
Inter would not be drawn in to a bidding war with City, especially as Eto'o has just one year left on his current deal with Barcelona and would be available to talk to clubs about of free transfer as early as January.
However, their position may be affected by Real Madrid's reported interest in Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Should a sizeable fee be secured for the Swedish international Jose Mourinho would have money to spend and a much lighter wage bill, Ibrahimovic being, prior to Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka's moves to the Bernabeu, the highest paid player on the planet.
Such a turn of events would leave City having wasted months of hard work in trying to convince Eto'o that, despite the lack of European football, Eastlands is now a credible destination for players of his standing.
Despite the late interest from Chelsea and, according to reports in Spain, Barcelona, City remain confident that no such impediments stand in the way of them securing the services of Carlos Tevez.
Since Manchester United confirmed that the Argentine was to leave Old Trafford after his loan agreement comes to an end next week City have been the prime movers and a deal is expected to be struck as early as July 1.
City's summer of spending will not stop there, however, with central defenders Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott high on manager Mark Hughes' list of targets.
The move for central defensive recruits paves the way for Richard Dunne to join Steve Bruce's Sunderland while Tal Ben-Haim has also been told he has no future at the club.
Danny Mills, Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ball, and Darius Vassell see their contracts expire next week and none will be offered new deals.
