Samuel Eto’o shopped to A-League

Quote:

ANY A-League clubs got a spare $5 million lying around? Because that’s the asking price for Samuel Eto’o — and we hear his representatives have made contact with local agents.

Eto’o is currently at Everton, though reports suggest he is close to leaving the English Premier League for Serie A side Sampdoria.

It seems like the prolific striker has been around for ages, but he is only 33-years-old and there is still plenty of interest in him. Cashed-up A-League clubs have been urged to act fast.

COE’S NO KEEPER

MELBOURNE Victory could be on the hunt for a new goalkeeper soon with Nathan Coe likely to pursue a deal in Europe.

The 30-year-old has received plenty of interest and our mail is that he could be moving to Turkish club Bursaspor. If he does, he will link up with Socceroos player Aziz Behich.

Coe has been at the Victory since 2012, but spent time at Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen early on in his career.

CAREFUL CARLOS

NO wonder Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has been wary of speaking out for fear of being forced to “donate charity” to the Asian Football Confederation.

Quieroz was fined $3,000 for offensive behaviour following his team’s match against Bahrain and the Iran Football Federation was fined $5,000 for wearing a “non-approved” uniform in the same game.

But it’s not just Iran who have had to fork out the cash — Kuwait, Palestine and Jordan were all fined $1,000 for smoking in the dressing room. And, in an attempt to snuff out diving, Korea’s Nam Tae-hee was slapped with a $4,000 fine for simulation against Kuwait.

WANDERING ROOS

WHEN the Socceroos aren’t spending all their free time holed up in their hotel rooms playing FIFA (incidentally, we’ve heard Ivan Franjic is a master of the game), they do occasionally walk the streets around their hotel. Most of the time they go unnoticed, unless Tim Cahill is with them. Hopefully the Asian Cup will serve to boost more of their profiles around the country.

MANC MULVEY

MIKE Mulvey is off to England to do some professional development, and observe some elite training sessions. The former Brisbane Roar title-winning coach is of course a passionate Manchester United fan and was on their books as a youth player. Interesting that he’s off to Manchester City, then, but luckily they are a very hospitable lot at the City Group.

RAY OF LIGHT

RAY Wilkins anticipates the end to his time coaching Jordan and says he would be open to an A-League gig. Wilkins might want to phone his old international teammate Terry Butcher, who won’t give it a glowing endorsement. “You’ve got a nerve,” was the last thing Butcher said to an Australian journalist who rang the former Sydney FC boss after his exit, and put the phone down.

ON TARGET

BEST moment of the Asian Cup’s TV coverage: this exchange, referring to Jordan goalkeeper Amer Shafi.

Simon Hill: “ Nicknamed the whale, he got his Blubber between Honda and the Ball — not that he is fat by any means.”

Andy Harper: “Japan’s attack will be aiming at the Whale. Purely for scientific purposes of course.”

Hill: “Naughty, Andy!”