If Joan Laporta had known what a blooming ball-ache the Mad Sammy EtoâÂÂo for Mad Zlatan Ibrahimovic transfer was going to be, then the tantrum-throwing titan of the Camp Nou probably wouldnâÂÂt have bothered with the swap.
Not only has the ceaseless saga irked Pep Guardiola, the local press and a good chunk of the Barcelona faithful, but if the details of the reported deal are correct, then it could also turn out to be the biggest waste of money since Jesus Navas splashed out on a round-the-world air ticket.
Laporta has even handed the opportunity to the Madridista papers of allowing them to take an evening stroll along the moral high ground - no mean feat - by throwing them the raw meat of a deal that could be worth 45m euro, plus EtoâÂÂo, plus Alexander Hleb - rounding things up to an estimated 90m.
âÂÂEach club has the freedom to pay what it considers right for a player,â grinned an immensely smug Barça-supporting editorial in Marca last week, in response to club director Xavier Sala i Martin insisting that âÂÂwe will never spend 60m on one footballer,â and LaportaâÂÂs constant grumblings over MadridâÂÂs âÂÂimperialisticâ spending.
The problem for Barcelona is that sealing this Swap Shop style deal has been like trying to understand José Antonio Reyes eating a mouthful of meatballs - almost impossible.
Apparently, the easy part of the transfer has already been tied up with both Inter Milan and Zlatan himself agreeing to the terms of the deal. The trickier part has been manoeuvring EtoâÂÂo over the Med to Milan.
The Cameroon striker is currently in a win-win-win-win situation.
If EtoâÂÂo stays at Barcelona he sees out the final year of his contract at the best club in the world where he remains popular - not that he's fussed about things like that - and can then pick and choose his next destination.
If he gets a move to Inter Milan, within the next few weeks, then it will be for big bags of cash.
EtoâÂÂoâÂÂs agent, José MarÃÂa Mesalles, returned to Barcelona on Tuesday night after another negotiation session with Inter, with Marca reporting that the Milan club are reluctant to fork out all of the 10-15m euro signing bonus that EtoâÂÂo is said to be demanding.
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