Jose - Fans will love Eto'o

Mourinho believes Inter have done great business with Eto'o deal

Last updated: 25th July 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Jose - Fans will love Eto'o

Mourinho: Hails proposed Eto'o deal

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Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho believes the club's fans will much prefer Samuel Eto'o to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The star strikers are set to swap clubs after Inter and Barcelona agreed a deal which will see the Catalans also pay cash and loan Belarus midfielder Alexander Hleb to the Italian side.

Mourinho believes Inter have the best of the deal and the club's fans will not mourn Ibrahimovic's departure, despite the Swedish striker being Serie A's top scorer last season.

The Portuguese tactician told Gazzetta dello Sport: "He (Ibrahimovic) has always given everything he could to me and to Inter.

"He didn't manage to get the fans to fall in love with him though. They are not crying about his sale and are ready to love Eto'o."

Bit angry

While Mourinho admitted he was 'a bit angry' to lose Ibrahimovic, he believed 'no one is not happy to have Eto'o - we have lost a top player but we have taken another one.'

He added the deal is really good business for Inter as the two strikers are worth the same money.

Mourinho said: "Inter had to choose whether to say, 'we're not selling you' to Ibrahimovic, or get Eto'o plus Hleb free for a year, plus €50million (£43m).

"This seems an extraordinary deal to me, a €100m (£86m) deal, the deal of the summer.

"For me it's worth 100 million because Eto'o is not worth a euro less than Ibra."

While the Portuguese feels Ibrahimovic will adapt to life at the Nou Camp, he insists he will not he making a similar move.

Dream

Mourinho told Sky Italia: "He had this dream and wanted to go. He told me he would miss me and I told him exactly the same thing.

"He's going to a club in which I worked for four years, Barcelona are an extraordinary club and he will be happy.

"I didn't give him any advice but I spoke to him a few days before the final decision.

"I told him that if he wins the Champions League with Barcelona he won't be doing anything extraordinary, seeing as the Catalans have won it twice in three years.

"I like doing something extraordinary, not what's normal."