Lyon eye Eto'o raid

The Cameroon striker has been strongly touted to make a move away from the Camp Nou this summer, with Real Madrid, Internazionale, Tottenham and Chelsea all reportedly interested in securing his services.

Barca recently put a £110 million price tag on the 27-year-old but Aulas, who claims the three-time African player of the year wanted to move to Lyon four years ago, would be prepared to pay big money for a player of such quality.

Aulas told L'Equipe: "If [Eto'o] wanted to come tomorrow, [Lyon boss] Claude Puel would be thrilled. And we have the capability to make that happen.

"But is it right to bring a player into the dressing room who earns a incomparable salary to those of other Lyon players? There is a balance to find, both on the pitch and off it.

"Everything depends on Claude. If he told us tomorrow that to win the Champions League we need to buy Eto'o or [Chelsea striker Didier] Drogba, we would try to bring them in, even if that meant we would have to live a little beyond our means."

Having dominated French football over recent years - Les Gones have won the last seven domestic titles - Aulas believes the next step for his club is to claim Champions League glory.

And Aulas is willing to give Puel, who took over from Alain Perrin at the end of last season, enough time to bring the club a first major European trophy.

"I have spoken about a four-year plan - the length of the manager's contract," Aulas continued.

"I don't want to put pressure on him. He knows our objectives - to win the Champions League before 2012.

"But it is not easy to make that happen. Even [Roman] Abramovich found it difficult, despite his considerable investments [in Chelsea].