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Barca set their sights on Cameroon striker Eto`o (15.07.2004)
- Barcelona have made African Player of the Year Samuel Eto`o their next transfer target.
Club president Joan Laporta said Barca viewed the signing of the Cameroon international striker, who is part owned by both Real Madrid and his present club Real Mallorca, as a leading priority.
"On our part we see no problem in signing a player that does not have a place at Real Madrid," Laporta told reporters at the team`s training base in Peralada on Wednesday. "We think Eto`o is a great player."
The Catalans will have a tough battle on their hands if they want to secure the services of the highly rated 23-year-old.
Real president Florentino Perez said before he was re-elected on Sunday that he intended to buy back the full rights to the player from Mallorca and then loan him out to another club. But he ruled out a deal with Barcelona.
Laporta insisted,
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though, that he would not be deterred by Real`s plans.
"Everything will now depend on the how strong the desire of the players is to join Barcelona," he said. "It is in our interest that he ends up playing with us."
An additional problem for Barca is that Eto`o does not have a European Union passport and so would occupy one of three berths assigned for foreign players under Primera Liga regulations.
Barca have already exceeded their quota of non-European Union players and have said that unless new signing Silvinho manages to obtain Spanish citizenship before the start of the season they will have to loan him out to another club.
As well as former the Celta Vigo left back, Barca have also signed fellow Brazilian defender Juliano Belletti, Portugal playmaker Deco, Sweden striker Henrik Larsson and French midfielder Ludovic Giuly during the close season.
