Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti says that the offer from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala is too good to turn down, especially with the new financial fair play standards being introduced by UEFA.
Anzhi is reportedly prepared to pay Inter between €20 and €30 million for Eto’o and give the striker a three-year contract worth €20 million ($29 million) net per season.
“When an offer like that comes around, it’s difficult to match or refuse,” Moratti told Wednesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
Moratti added that UEFA’s new financial rules have forced clubs to evaluate their budgets and spending more closely.
“Financial fair play is serious,” Moratti said. “Whoever doesn’t respect the parameters will find themselves excluded from European competition.”
On a related topic Moratti said that Wesley Sneijder will be staying at Inter after all.:
“Sneijder away? For Wes there has never been any sort of negotiation. If Eto’o leaves, he remains. Sneijder was untouchable even before this hypothesis, now it is even more so. Sneijder will remain.”
If Moratti is concerned with the UEFA financial rules then I don’t expect Inter to spend all of the €30 that they will receive for Eto’o. A portion of that money will be spent to reduce the club’s debt and any players brought in to replace Eto’o would have to earn less than him. That would appear to eliminate Carlos Tevez from coming to Inter as he earns more than Eto’o.
