Chelsea makes move for Eto’o, not Rooney

LONDON — Chelsea has agreed a deal to sign Samuel Eto’o as part of the negotiations to acquire Willian for 30 million pounds ($49 million) from Anzhi Makhachkala, which will end its attempts to buy Wayne Rooney this summer.

The double signing could be announced later this week. The transfer of Eto’o, the 32-year-old former Inter Milan and Barcelona striker, is part of the agreement to sign Brazil midfielder Willian, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho did not want Eto’o’s involvement to become public until after Monday night’s Premier League game against Manchester United. Mourinho hoped that continuing the speculation over Chelsea’s interest in Rooney, who may start Monday, will unsettle United.

Rooney had hoped to join Chelsea this summer but is now resigned to staying at United and, it is understood, fully prepared to run down his contract in the hope of either leaving in January or more likely next summer when United manager David Moyes may be more prepared to sell. Chelsea has indicated it will wait for Rooney, who has two years left on his contract, and they regard Eto’o as a stopgap.

The fee for Eto’o, the highest-paid player at his Russian club, is thought to be around $3.27 million. Tottenham Hotspur, which had agreed a deal to sign Willian until it was hijacked by Chelsea, is furious at having missed out on the midfielder and the collapse of the move could delay Gareth Bale’s impending departure to Real Madrid. Spurs are determined to bring in another attacking player first as well as sign Roma forward Erik Lamela.

Spanish media said Bale had arrived in Spain on Saturday ahead of a world record move which Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino said was disrespectful. Martino said: “Bale is a good player, but the numbers that are being talked about; it is a lack of respect for the world we live in.”

Speaking ahead of Monday’s game, Mourinho argued that United should sell Rooney to Chelsea to keep the striker in England.

“That old-fashioned mentality of ‘I don’t sell players to clubs in the same country,’ I think, doesn’t help the market,” said Mourinho. “It doesn’t help the players.”