Transfer Talk: Zlatan to Barça, Eto’o to Inter? (or: Is One Zlatan Worth Two Eto’os?)
By: Daryl | July 17th, 2009
Nothing official yet, but it looks like there’s a massive massive transfer deal about to happen, sending Zlatan Ibrahimović to Barcelona, and Samuel Eto’o to Inter. Hence the photo of Zlatan in his car.
The terms aren’t exactly clear either, but based on an AP story and reports in both Marca and AS the deal seems to be: Barcelona give Inter around €40m plus Samuel Eto’o (plus Aliaksandr Hleb on loan) and get Zlatan Ibrahimović in return.
All kinds of questions come to mind.
The first question: Assuming Eto’o is valued at around €30m or more by Barça (based on the offer from Man City) then does that mean Zlatan Ibrahimovic is worth nearly twice as much as Samuel Eto’o? That doesn’t quite compute for me.
Second: How will this affect the beautiful Barcelona team of 2008/9? Will it make them even more exciting to watch? Or will it ruin the gameplan a bit?
Third: If he goes to Barça, will Zlatan finally notch a goal in the Champions League knockout rounds?
Fourth: Aren’t both teams just trading one highly strung superstar for another? Zlatan and Eto’o are different players in terms of style, but they’re both have a history of being “difficult.”
Fifth: How sh!tty must Hleb feel, having a year of his life used as a makeweight?
Sixth: Does the size of this deal mean Joan Laporta has to come down from the moral high ground now?
Seventh and last: Is this really going to happen?
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Category: Transfer Talk
Tags: Barcelona, Inter, Samuel Etoo, Transfer Talk, World Football, World Soccer, Zlatan IbrahimovicSubscribe
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My question exactly – is Zlatan really worth double what Eto’o is? The answer is simple, no freakin’ way.
Sure Eto’o may have been the spearhead of a beautiful Barça team while Ibra lead a very mediocre Inter side which would explain their goal tallies but seriously? I really don’t rate Ibra this highly what so ever…
Posted from
Spain
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YES IBRA IS WORTH DOUBLE ETO’O . . . over 20 goals per season for the last two years. SIngle handedly won the INTER scum the scudetto last year. ETO’O is. . . fast?
Posted from
United States -
Daryl, something also struck me when I first read the news. If the swap deal really goes through, then David Villa can remain at where he is at Valencia? Villa had been constantly linked to Barcelona (all the more Real Madrid cooled off their interest after signing Karim Benzema) and Joan Laporta had never made no secret of the fact that Barcelona would like to sign the Valencia striker.
Posted from
Singapore -
I rate Ibra way higher than eto. He can score from anywhere, as for eto, most of his goals were from a result of Xavi or Messi pass. Although, it might take him a little bit of time to adjust. About the adjusting thing, it doesn’t seem to me reasonable to make a straight swap like that, Eto would have a hard time at Inter, having to create goals out of nothing.
Villa isn’t completely out of the picture yet, having seen Henry being used in the wing and all. But this is all speculation so I’m still waiting on something concrete.Posted from
United States -
I’m really not sure I agree with this move… I think Eto’o fits the Barca system better – his tireless work to keep pressure on the ball & ALWAYS regain possession was what really impressed me. Is Ibra going to do the same? Does he even have the speed, agility, and tenacity to do it effectively? We shall see… but what do I know – I’m not the manager…. hopefully those in charge know what they’re doing…
Eto’o for Ibra straight up is questionable to me, but throw in the extra 40 million euros + Hleb and that is just straight crazy. Jose has got to be laughing all the way to the bank right about now… oh well – I guess this gives me a reason to watch some Italian matches now so I can root for Sammy & Inter…
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United States -
Nothing takes place in a void. There is no objective worth. When you ask if one player is worth more than another you have to take into consideration the circumstance.
For example, Ibra is more valuable to Inter than he is to Barca for the simple fact that Ibra essentially allows Inter to play more of their midfielders as defense since he creates his own goals.
Plus, Inter already have a solid finisher in Milito and a fast guy in Suazo.
So a player like Eto’o whose style is akin to a Milito/Suazo love child isn’t going to be worth as much to Inter as Ibra is. Hence the money added to Eto’o.
The real question is why Barca want Ibra for in the first place. They have creativity up the wazoo. It’s finishing – which is not what Ibra does – that they should be looking for a finisher to replace Eto’o when he leaves them high and dry next season.
Kinda like what we are doing with Ibra right now, trying to find someone to replace him before he leaves us high and dry next season…
Besides, aren’t we just spinning our wheels here? If Eto’o doesn’t sign off on this – which he has a history of doing – then isn’t this all academic?
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United States -
Zlatan is definitely worth two Eto’os. I think if the deal ends up being worth around €20~30million + Hleb on a 1 year loan is a good deal for both parties.
Inter gets: A proven big time CL player in Eto’o Even if he is in the latter stages of his career he should be able to thrive in Serie A for a few years to come. As well as another experienced and class winger (Mourinho loves wingers) in Hleb, who never seemed to be able to soldify himself in that winger spot behing Henry or Messi. All of that pluss a nice €20-30 million to go looking
Barca gets: To offload Eto’o. The club wanted to release him at the beginning of last season. He had an inspired run last season, but at the end of the day, it still seems like Barca want to try something new upfront. Ibrahimovic and Villa are somewhat comparable in that they are very good at dribbling in and around the box – but they are also similar in that they more or less (arguabley) single handedly drive their team up the table on their own.
For the €20~30million Barca get’s a total football style striker in Ibrahimovic who played and trained at Ajax the same as Cruyff. I won’t ooo and ahh over him because we all know how good he is.
Losing Hleb for only a year might not be a terrible thing for Barca. He has to compete with Messi and Henry for playing time if the two are fit or on form, and he always seemed like “extra dead weight” last season.
This is all just my own ramblings and thoughts, but as I said.. if the deal is true, I wouldn’t be suprised at the rumored prices.
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United States -
Remember that Barca had less leverage on Eto’o than Inter on Zlatan: Eto’o has only one year left on his contract and Inter could get him for free next year, whereas Zlatan is tied to Inter for 3-4 more years.
At this point it was let go of Eto’o now or not make any money out of this… :S
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United States -
Question 8. Who will be on the team come August 5th, when they’re in Seattle?
Eto has had his moments, but more often than not I’m disappointed watching him. Zlatan – I’d love to see him playing against my Sounders. But really, I’ll be stoked to see whoever Barca decides to play….
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United States -
POINT OF FACT: Eto’o has 1 year left to his contract while Ibrahimovic contract ran till 2013, that’s why Ibra costs more! Salary wise, Eto’o will receive 13 million euros a year while Ibrahimovic will receive 12 million euros a year.
BARCA’S MISTAKE: Eto’o has been the most important player in Barça for the past 5 years. One thing in football is the tendency to overrate the technical skills over the tactical skills that a player brings to a squad. Without Eto’o, Barça’s ability to monopolise the ball will falter for the simple reason that defenders will no longer be forced to fall back in anticipation of the lethal goal scoring threat he poses to defences. This pattern has always arisen when Eto’o had been out for prolonged periods due to injury. It is rather this tactical threat posed by Eto’o which has allowed the other Barça players like Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta to fully blossom. The failure of newly recruited attackers like Gudjohnsen, Henry and now to come to Ibra to fulfill this role, is and will be due to their inability to fulfill this tactical role that Eto’o has brought to Barça for the past 5 years, and this will creep down to the rest of the team. Leaving Eto’o go is the beginning of the downfall of Barça because Eto’o has tactically made the Barça we know today. The fact is Barça’s ability to monopolise the ball which is the basis of its success is very much “unnatural” but for the fact that they had a lethal attacker in the name of Eto’o who provided the tactical depth for such an unnatural style of play!
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United States -
Polii, if you are trying to say that the defender’s won’t cover Ibra as much as they had to for Eto’o, I think you need to pass that.
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United States -
I hate Barcelona.
Why do they always get all the shiny toys? They already have a beautiful city, half the best players in the world, a super hot coach, the moral high-ground… Why do they need to take the only creative player we have? In my mind, they are worse than Real Madrid. Real is trying to build a wining team, Barca already has one but they are just not satisfied – they want everyone else’s toys too.
Of course, Inter are not helping matters. Here we are, begging to be rooked. What, you have players you want to offload because they are causing trouble? Sure, we will take them… And here, how about we give you our only super star in return? All I can think is that Barcelona is so cool that Moratti is willing to do whatever it takes just to hang out with them – including ripping the heart out of his own team.
I hate Barcelona, but only because I secretly want to be them.
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United States -
@Johonna comment:”They already have a beautiful city, half the best players in the world, a super hot coach, the moral high-ground…”
Don’t hate, Barcelona is a city build for its citizens by its citizens.
Posted from
United States -
I guess my point is, why do they need every good thing there is? Cant they leave just a little bit for the rest of us?
It is just plain greedy.
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United States -
@ Johanna
Ibra is not bigger than Inter. If Moratti wants the champions league he will do what he needs to. Eto’o is a proven CL performer – plus Zlatan wants to move on… it might not bode well to keep an un(best player most creative scores tons of goals and sells seats)settled player for a whole season.
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United States -
I believe that Zlatan would shine in spain, simply because i think the italian league is way more defensive. He will have an easier time scoring, by the way he is a great passer. Zlatan is def worth two Eto’s. I don’t like this trade at all. Please Morrati don’t do this to us!!
Posted from
United States -
Eto’o is almost 29 years old already. He is a great footballer, but he is one of the explosive-dynamic footballers. Will he be the same eto’o we know now after 2 years? will he be still able to run like a horse when he start kissing his thirties? with his continious running, Eto’o is a monster. without it he turns …normal…
Beside, after wining couple of CL and some leagues, will he be as motivated for the following 5 years to offer barcelona what he offered till now? I doubt. One of the reasons of his great performance last season was the hunger of proving his point after last summer big mess. When he turned settled to a long term contract, things may turn different.
Barcelona while evaluating Eto’o, they are not looking backward to the past, but forward toward the future. Its more a strategic approach to fix things BEFORE it gets broken.
Regarding his market value, what was the highest offer that Barcelona recieved? none. I doubt the Man city thing was that serious. So his value is actully under 25 Millions. And if he stay he will go next season for free. so barcelona cant keep him. And if they sign Villa before selling eto’o, eto’o market value will drop even more. so the ideal thing was this Ibra deal where barcelona offload eto’o the moment they get Ibra.
Why Ibra? simple. He is a different type of strikers. Its not a matter of being better. I can bet he will not get shorter by time. So even when he gets 34 years old he can still camp in the opponent box and the brilliant Messi-Iniesta-alves, etc…can keep aiming their crosses to ibra head, bouncing it to the net. He is a striker with longer life cycle.
The price:
The right way to see the deal is like that:
Eto’o +cash money+Hleb—-> Ibra plus the return of selling hleb.
If eto’o value is 25 m (maximuim) then Ibra deal will cost Barcelona arround 60 M . I will take it anytime over a 55M for Villa who is a great striker but not what Barcelona need while facing parked busses game in game out.
After last season CL, every team barcelona will face will have the logos of Man Utd and Chelsea on the board while discussing the plan:
Facing Barca this way is wrong (man utd way), to have a hope against barca u need to be a chelsea, parking your train infront of your keeper. A tall striker like Ibra turn to be a key for Barcelona future.
Posted from
Sweden -
i think zlatan get good time good pass from any where like messi henry xavi inisate so he only needs power scoring as he use to do and he can score more but eto was the same as ibr is but i don,t know what uis goung on
Posted from
United States -
etoo has done much 4 barca and if they think dats the way 2 pay him 4 his work done in dat team then good.changing etoo 4 ibra is some how degrtading him it means etoo is worth nothing in dis transfer.
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United States -
Seems a bit strange to me that a few have made mention of Eto’o’s age as if he’s an old man, when Ibrahimovic is all of seven months younger than him.
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United States -
1. Citeh was desperate. Eto’o, with a difficult relationship with the club and in the “free” year of his contract, is worth about E3.22 on the open market.
2. More beautiful.
3. Yes. Because he’ll get much better service. Henry and Messi free up a bit of space for a striker.
4. Yes. But both will make nice their first season.
5. Incredibly so, but he brought it on himself by being shit.
6. No. (see No. 1) Besides, winning the Final with 7 of the 11 starters from La Masia means he can pitch a tent on the moral high ground.
7. Yes, after a lot of pain and stress. Hleb will be easy. Eto’o and Ibra will be difficult. The clubs have agreed, next week brings the player talks.
Posted from
United States -
Eddie, its not strange at all. If you can classify the strikers into categories, then analyse the impact of age on their performance life cycle.
Posted from
Sweden -
To me Zlatan is risky and could ruin Barca. No doubt talented but he plays for himself- Eto’o even if he seemed difficult and greedy always played for the team when he was on the pitch. Villa is a much better fit.
Posted from
United States
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