Parma vs Sampdoria preview - Samp on brink of Eto'o deal

Champions-League chasing Sampdoria are on the verge of signing Everton striker Samuel Eto'o as they head into Sunday's Serie A clash at Parma.

The Cameroon forward has reportedly agreed to join the Genoa outfit on a 18-month contract while he has reduced his wages by 40 per cent in order to return to Serie A.

"Eto'o has chosen to move to Genoa and he is really charged up," Eto'o's representative Claudio Vigorelli told the Italian press. "His family lives in Milan and he wants to be close by.

"He dreams of playing in a team like the Genoa outfit where he would like to end his career.

"In the past few hours he received an offer from (Brazilian side) Santos which was more advantageous from a financial standpoint but he is not interested."

Samp, who sold top scorer Manolo Gabbiadini to Napoli earlier this month, are desperately looking to reinforce their attacking line after negotiations aimed at signing Udinese forward Luis Muriel collapsed this week.

Eto'o, 33, spent two seasons at Inter and was a member of the Nerazurri's 2010 treble-winning side that won the Serie A title, Coppa Italia and Champions League under coach Jose Mourinho.

In the meantime, Samp go into this weekend's match at the Tardini stadium knowing that if results go their way they could climb to third in the standings.

Samp are fifth, level on 30 points with Napoli, who are fourth.

The Blucerchiati are one point adrift of third-place Lazio, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot and host Napoli on Sunday.

Samp bounced back from their 3-0 defeat at Lazio, their second loss of the campaign, with a 1-0 triumph over Empoli last time out.

"The important thing was not to concede a goal," Samp coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said. "My team reacted after our heavy defeat to Lazio and now we must give continuity to this result."

Parma beat Cagliari 2-1 on Wednesday to set up a meeting with Juventus in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.

The Ducale club return to Serie A action this weekend hoping to clinch their fourth win of the campaign.

Parma lost 3-1 at Hellas Verona last weekend to drop to 19th place, eight points adrift of safety.