Friday, 6th September, 2013

Samuel Eto'o would have preferred accepting a move to the lucrative leagues in Qatar rather than joining Inter Milan, had Chelsea's approach not been successful.

Eto'o ended up moving to Chelsea under his former Inter boss Jose Mourinho this summer, after Anzhi Makhachkala's financial troubles.

 


Inter had been one of the biggest links with Eto'o, who won the treble with them before his Russia move.

However, Eto'o's agent Claudio Vigorelli today revealed the Nerazzurri were far from being leaders in the race for the Cameroon international.

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"Inter were never concrete", Vigorelli told Tuttosport. "If Samuel had not signed a contract with Chelsea, he probably would have accepted a very lucrative offer from Qatar.

"But Jose Mourinho chose to go hard after him, so we accepted the contract.

"Mourinho knows Eto'o quite well, as the two share a common past during their time at Inter."

Eto'o has signed a one-year deal at Chelsea following his Anzhi exit, which ended his time as the world's highest-paid footballer, on €20m per year.

Anzhi's financial revamp meant most of the club's high earners – including Eto'o – were primed for the exit as a total of 15 players eventually took the leap. As a result the Dagestan side have cut their wage bill from €83m to €21m.

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