Madrid  - Samuel Eto'o is demanding 3 million euros (4.4 million US dollars) from former club Barcelona, which the Catalan giants are refusing to pay, radio station Catalunya Radio reported on Tuesday.

Eto'o and his agents believe that this amount corresponds to 15 per cent of the transfer fee from his July move from Barca to Italian champions Inter Milan.

The Association of Spanish Footballers ruled several years ago that players were entitled to 15 per cent of the transfer fee paid for them.

However, Barca claim that this 15 per cent is only applicable in tranfers between two Spanish clubs - and that, in any case, it should be paid by the buying rather than the selling club.

According to Spanish media reports on Tuesday, the case is likely to go to court in Spain.

Eto'o's sale to Inter was valued at around 20 million euros. It was part of a complex deal whereby Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Barca.

Eto'o, 28, scored 121 goals for Barca between 2004 and 2009, making him the third top ever scorer in the club's history.

In July coach Josep Guardiola contrvoversially decided to sell him to Inter, claiming that he had "little feeling" with the Cameroon forward.  dpa