El Mundo Deportivo says Laporta met with Inter representatives almost a fortnight ago in Madrid at a foreign embassy - possibly Kuwait's - where the offer was made. The summit was organised by Inter midfielder Luis Figo, who has several projects in the Middle East and is close to Laporta.

The Barca president is still mulling over the proposal and actually wanted to discuss the availability of Thiago Motta with the Inter officials, but they insisted only Eto'o interested their president, Massimo Moratti.

It emerged during the talks that Adriano is unhappy in Italy and anxious to quit the Serie A. However, the deal could be scuppered by Real Madrid, where powerbroker Jose Angel Sanchez has already held talks with Adriano about moving to Spain this summer.