Inter Milan offered huge sum for Eto’o

Samuel Eto’o would become the highest paid player on the planet if the deal goes through [GALLO/GETTY]

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti is hoping to sell standout striker Samuel Eto’o to Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala because the offer is just too good to turn down, and it coincides with new financial fair play standards being introduced by UEFA.

Anzhi is reportedly prepared to pay Inter between $29 and $43 million for the 30-year-old Eto’o and give the Cameroon international a three-year contract worth $29 million net per season.

The deal would make Eto’o the world’s highest paid footballer, eclipsing the estimated $17.4 million that Cristiano Ronaldo earns at Real Madrid and the $15.2 million that Lionel Messiis paid by Barcelona.

“When an offer like that comes around, it’s difficult to match or refuse,” Moratti told Wednesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport.

Eto’o arrived for meetings with Anzhi officials in Milan on Wednesday with the deal close to being finalised, according to the ANSA news agency.

Moratti added that UEFA’s new financial rules have forced clubs to evaluate their budgets and spending more closely.

This season’s club accounts are the first ones that formally have to be given to UEFA for inspection – by June, 2013.

“If Eto’o goes he stays, but seeing as Sneijder was untouchable even before this possibility, he’s even more so now” Inter president Massimo Moratti

“Financial fair play is serious,” Moratti said.

“Whoever doesn’t respect the parameters will find themselves excluded from European competition.”

Anzhi, from the troubled southern Russian province of Dagestan, is owned by billionaire businessman Suleiman Kerimov.

Inter is eyeing Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid or Ezequiel Lavezzi of Napoli as a replacement for Eto’o, with Moratti saying he doesn’t expect a deal with Manchester City for Carlos Tevez.

Meanwhile, playmaker Wesley Sneijder appears set to remain at Inter.

“There was never any sort of deal for Wes,” Moratti said.

“If Eto’o goes he stays, but seeing as Sneijder was untouchable even before this possibility, he’s even more so now.”

Also Wednesday, center back Lucio extended his contract with Inter for two more seasons, through 2013-14. And Inter announced it has signed 18-year-old Paraguayan winger Rodrigo Alborno Ortega from Libertad to a contract through 2015-16.