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Real agree to sell Eto`o to Barca (12.08.2004)
CNN
MADRID, Spain -- Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid finally reached agreement on Wednesday night about the destiny of African player of the year Samuel Eto`o.
The little Cameroon striker will sign immediately for Barcelona, who will pay 24 million euros for him to Real and Mallorca, the two clubs who co-own his contract.
Real president Florentino Perez wanted to keep Eto`o on loan at Mallorca -- where he has been since 2000 -- for another season, until Roberto Carlos had obtained Spanish nationality, finally freeing up a non-E.U. place Etoo.
Instead, Perez will receive 12 million for his half share in Eto`o, money which can now be spent on Patrick Vieira or Michael Owen.
Thus
ends two months of acrimony, bitterness and confusion about the fate of the 23-year-old forward.
On Thursday he will become Barca`s seventh signing of a frenetic summer, with a four-year contract worth around two million euros per season.
The deal will improve relations between Spain`s twin giants, just when a repeat of the 1954 Di Stefano affair seemed to be on the cards.
Exactly 50 years ago the manner in which Real snatched Argentine star Alfredo Di Stefano away from Barcelona, with the help of the Franco regime, created decades of emnity.
The arrival of Etoo at the Nou Camp will be seen as a triumph for Barcelona president Joan Laporta and take his summer spending to almost 70 million euros.
