Cameroon striker Samuel Eto`o has signed a new deal with Barcelona that will keep him at the club until 2010.
The deal will reportedly provide the African Footballer of the Year with an improved annual salary of US$6 million.
Any club keen to prise Eto`o from the Spanish champions before the expiration of his contract will have to pay US$181 million.
Eto`o`s new deal ended speculation that he may leave the club for a more lucrative offer elsewhere.
The 24-year-old, whose previous contract expired in 2008, said he rejected a bigger offer from English champions Chelsea.
Eto`o said negotiations with Barcelona only took a
matter of hours and there was never a chance that he would leave the Nou Camp.
"I`m lucky to have the best player in the world in my team, Ronie (Ronaldinho)," he said.
"I have the best players at my side, those who help me and can continue to help me."
The Indomitable Lion played a crucial part in Barcelona`s first league title in six years by scoring 24 league goals.
He arrived last summer from Mallorca in a US$28.9m deal, which also required the approval of Real Madrid, as they owned half of the striker`s contract.
Eto`o said he intends to spend nine years at Barcelona and then end his career with his former club Mallorca.
