It would be among the biggest swap deals ever in soccer but there is a long way to go before it becomes reality.

Inter Milan and Barcelona may have agreed to the transfers of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o (plus a bit of cash for the Italians on top) but the players have yet to agree terms and that looks trickier than might be expected.

Manchester City pulled out of talks with Eto’o after becoming frustrated while media reports say he is asking for astronomical wages.

Ibrahimovic on the other hand is reportedly the most paid player in the world and Barca will have to be careful not to destroy their wage structure if they want to recruit him.

Furthermore, Barca president Joan Laporta met Inter’s Massimo Moratti earlier in the close season and they both agreed a swap deal was not a good idea because they still wanted to keep their strikers.

The situation has changed since then, with Ibrahimovic repeating a desire for a fresh challenge and Eto’o looking more like departing, but in soccer money talks and there could still be more twists.

Sweden’s Ibrahimovic, away in the U.S. with Inter which could complicate matters, seems more keen than the Cameroon international. Ibra would definitely be more fed up if he agreed terms with Barca but the swap collapsed because Inter would not meet Eto’o’s demands.

Then Inter’s Jose Mourinho, eager to know who his main striker will be as soon as possible, would have to use his famed motivation skills to make Ibra commit fully again to the Serie A champions.

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) passes the ball around Club America’s Juan Carlos Silva during the second half of their World Football Challenge at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California July 19, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

When the initial estimate of World Cup stadium costs was made by South Africa, it was set at some R2-3 billion.

That was at the time of the country’s success in winning the bid ahead of its fellow African competitors in 2004, some six years before the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

For months, officials have been predicting the final bill will come in around R13 billion. It is an staggering increase that has never got anything but a flimsy explanation over the last few years.

The economic recession, the price of steel, the volatile South African currency (the Rand) were all cited but never was a detailed explanation offered over the massive escalation.

Admittedly the stadium plan at the time of the R2-3 billion price range changed considerably in the subsequent years; two new stadiums were added to the original plans and the showpiece Soccer City venue given a whole new architectural feel.

Few in South Africa have ever questioned the additional costs, not even those who have felt a sporting spectacle should never have been allowed to take much needed cash away from sorting out the long-standing legacy of decades of Apartheid.

The Treasury seemed consistently happy to be doling out the cash. Up until now though. A probe from the Competition Commission in South Africa is to investigate the allocation of the construction tenders after all the cost escalations.

It might seem a little belated given that the last phase of stadium building is now underway and the venues are due to ready in December.

A country like South Africa needs the World Cup but there is a limit to how much they can pay out for a month-long party, particularly if it is to the detriment of millions of citizens who still have so little.

The decision by Nigeria to test their under-17 players to eliminate age cheats is the first step in ridding African soccer of a long-standing blight.

Nigeria Football Federation president Sani Lulu Abdallah has said this week his organisation will take the unprecedented step of measuring the bone density of players by use of an MRI scan, usually done around the wrist area, to approximate whether they are roughly the right age or not.

They will start before Nigeria put an under-17 side together for their hosting of the world championships later this year.

It has long been suspected that past sides (and Nigeria have won three World under-17 Championships) have had age cheats but Nigeria is among the first associations to have shown any willingness to try to tackle the issue.

There have been past admissions of cheating, almost all of them long after the fact, while some teams have been caught trying to change the date of birth of players, who had been previously registered for other competitions.

Similar scans to those proposed by Nigeria have not been implemented because they are not 100 percent accurate. But FIFA’s own findings have attached a 90 percent credibility to the tests…certainly much more credibility than the World Junior Championship will enjoy if age cheats go unchecked.

PHOTO: FIFA president Sepp Blatter, keen to root out age cheats, in Seoul Sept. 9, 2007. Blatter visited Seoul to watch the final between Spain and Nigeria at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

Japan midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura’s decision to snub a return to Yokohama and join Spain’s Espanyol left his boyhood club devastated.

Yokohama’s club president slapped himself with a 50 percent pay cut by way of apology to furious F-Marinos fans, but arguably the most surprising aspect of the protracted saga was Yokohama’s “shock” that Nakamura opted for Espanyol instead of them after leaving Celtic, where he won three Scottish Premier League titles.

The choice between playing against glamour sides Real Madrid and Barcelona or languishing in the backwaters of the struggling J-League was a no-brainer.

The 31-year-old had always wanted to play in La Liga, while Espanyol had been chasing the Japan playmaker for years.

Nakamura’s new club described their new signing as a “galactico,” heralding his arrival as every bit as important as Real Madrid’s acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.

Hyperbole aside, the move makes obvious sense for Nakamura, and Japan coach Takeshi Okada is unlikely to shed any tears for Yokohama ahead of next year’s World Cup.

Picture by Albert Gea/Reuters

Click the video above for a look at how Shamrock Rovers are preparing for the visit of Real Madrid — a match the entire soccer word will be keeping an eye on, with Cristiano Ronaldo set to make his debut for the Spanish club.

Interesting line about Real’s continued interest in Franck Ribery. Do they really need him still. Raul seems to suggest they’d still like him…

Manchester City are finally shopping at the luxury end of the market, as befits their status as the richest of the rich, and as a result the fans can start to get excited about the new season.

Back in January I blogged about the depressingly familiar rollcall of mediocre players being linked with City: the likes of Scott Parker, Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Matthew Upson.

I suggested they aim a bit higher and sure enough they went in at the nosebleed end of things with a bid for Kaka. As we all know, it didn’t come off, and no one of that quality came in in January, but with the arrival of Carlos Tevez (and to a lesser extent Gareth Barry, who was wanted so badly by Liverpool) things have changed.

Now Tevez is there, I’d expect more big names to follow. Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor may be among them, and there’s still an outside chance that John Terry could fellow.

Whether those moves come off or not, things are already looking up for City fans. The arrival of Tevez means they are players at last. Watch out Real Madrid!

PHOTO: Argentina’s striker Carlos Tevez smiles as he leaves after a training session at the squad’s camp on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, June 4, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

Champions League qualifying has begun so the new football season in Europe is well and truly underway.

But while Mogren of Montenegro celebrate their victory over Hibernians of Malta in the first qualifying round last week, spare a thought for those famous European sides who are unlikely to grace the competition even in a qualifying tie, let alone the group stage.

I live in London and there’s at least one good example right here. With Martin Jol at the helm, Tottenham Hotspur missed out on fourth spot in the Premier League (and a Champions League qualifying place) in the 2005/06 season by virtue of a defeat by local rivals West Ham United on the final day of the season.

Fans will always blame that on a virus that floored several first team players, but that’s another story…

They finished fifth again the following season but weren’t ever really in with a chance of coming fourth and since then they have reverted to their normal role of mid-table underachievers.

The future promises more of the same: too big to go down, too small to mix it with the big boys in the top four.

Tottenham’s billionaire owner Joe Lewis has the money — £2.5 billion according to Four Four two magazine’s latest annual Rich List (which puts him fourth behind the owners of Manchester City, Queen’s Park Rangers and Chelsea in British football) — but not the inclination to lavish hundreds of millions on transfers every season to bring in the world’s top players.

The club once snatched former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne from under the nose of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United but it is inconceivable that a player of his class would choose White Hart Lane over Old Trafford today.

Without big-name signings Tottenham are unlikely to ever break into the top four. Finishing sixth to 10th seems their best hope.

There are a lot of other clubs in the same boat, too — not just in the Premier League but around Europe.  Sampdoria and Athletic Bilbao are examples in Italy and Spain. 

Playing in the Champions League itself probably still feels a long way away for Mogren, but for Tottenham and the like it’s even further.

Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the ultimate soccer enigma.

He scores goals for fun when playing Bologna, Chievo and Palermo but often goes missing against AC Milan, Manchester United or Liverpool (which is why he is never in the running for the top awards despite the incredulity of Inter fans).

The tall-yet-skilful attacker has been racking up Serie A titles but the Champions League seems a distant prospect and with all due respect to Sweden, he is not likely to win any honours in international football.

If you want someone to outrageously chip the keeper, Ibra is your man, but don’t expect him to always score that tap-in.

Judging how much these sorts of players (Antonio Cassano? Dimitar Berbatov?) are worth is very tricky, especially after he admitted at the end of last season that he fancied a new challenge.

Inter president Massimo Moratti slapped a 70 million euro price on his head which scared off Barcelona and Real Madrid. If Kaka cost 67, can Ibra really be worth more?

Without a bid forthcoming, the forward returned to pre-season training with Inter last week saying he was “happy”. Moratti then said the player was off the market.

Now English newspapers say Manchester United and Chelsea have come sniffing. Chelsea’s reported offer would be 50 million plus Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, two players Inter coach Jose Mourinho wants.

A move is suddenly back on the table but like everything with Ibrahimovic, any transfer is bound to be complicated, especially as he has just jetted off on a U.S. tour with Inter.

What’s your bet on where Ibra will end up? I reckon he’ll still be at the San Siro come September…

PHOTO: Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring against Lazio in their Italian Serie A soccer match at San Siro stadium in Milan, May 2, 2009. REUTERS/Stefan Rellandini

I just came across an interesting blog on the bleacher report comparing the greatness of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods.

Here in Italy, the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper has been running a series called "Impossible duels" where the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt have gone up against each other in a bizarre statistical battle.

But if there is even a debate about whether we can say Federer is the greatest player in tennis, how can we start to compare across sports?

We can talk about desire, mental toughness etc but the sports are so radically different.

Despite my doubts, here goes. Who was/is the greatest sports personality ever?

CAPTION: Can you name all the sporting figures in this photo?

The English hooligan problem was at its worst outside Britain, when fans went to international matches abroad. Violence in Argentine football, by contrast, has reached a point in recent years where it is rarely even a confrontation between the hardcore fans of rival teams.

Now, factions who support the same team fight each other. At stake is control over a number of money-spinning ventures linked to their clubs.

It might appear paradoxical at first that just when Huracan have produced a stylish attacking team which nearly won the Argentine league title, their hardcore fans should to go war with each other.

Two men died and a number of people were injured in recent fighting in the Buenos Aires barrio of Parque de los Patricios just hours after the team’s 3-0 home win over Arsenal had put them a point clear at the top of the standings. (They then unluckily lost the title decider to Velez Sarsfield.)

Fighting between groups from the same set of fans has nothing to do with on-field performance, except that a more succesful team generates higher crowds and therefore more business for the gangs (control of parking in the area, the sale of food, resale of match tickets and even drugs.)

La Zavaleta, a faction that had been marginalised a few years ago and kept quiet while Huracan languished in the National B championship (second tier), wanted a piece of the action but the powerful Jose C Paz and El Pueblito groups were reluctant to let go and violence ensued.

The government and the Argentine Football Association via its president Julio Grondona, tried to argue that the killings had nothing to do with football because they occurred far from the ground and were committed by criminals who don’t care about the game.

They are constantly criticised by the media and by organisations representing victims of football violence for not taking preventative measures.

Thugs seem able to carry all kinds of illegal items into grounds under the very eyes of the police.

Unusally, the Jose C Paz faction posted an apology for the violence on a website although it went on to say La Zavaleta needed to be taught a lesson.

The lesson clubs never seem to learn is that as long as they give favours to hardcore fans and allow them to exercise power in and around the clubs, the violence will not go away.

PHOTO: River Plate fans are arrested by the Argentine police near the Monumental stadium before their Argentine First division soccer match against Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires September 9, 2007. They were arrested following a fight between two different River Plate fan factions. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci