Player Profile: Samuel Eto’o - Part 1
Samuel Eto’o is a Cameroonian player who currently plays as a striker for the Italian team, Inter Milan. Not only does he play at club level, he also is a part of his country’s national team and is the captain there.
Eto’o started his training at Kadji Sports Academy and he also holds a Spanish passport so that he isn't considered a “foreign” player in the European Union. While playing for Barcelona, he scored more than 100 goals and also holds a record for the most
number of appearances by an African player in the Spanish La Liga.
This year, he also became the player who won two European trebles as he managed to gain two achievements; one with Barcelona and the other with Inter Milan. Eto'o is one of those few players who have won a European title (or UEFA Champions League) with more
than one team. Other players in this category include Paulo Sousa, Gerard Pique and Marcel Desailly.
Another record which he holds is that he managed to win the UEFA Champions League with three different teams namely Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan. Only AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf is the other player to have pulled this off as he has won the “great”
title with AC Milan, Ajax and also Real Madrid. These two players are also the only African players to have managed to come to the UEFA Champions League from three different sides.
As an international player, Samuel has featured in 2000 Olympics' squad that actually won in the end. He also participated in three FIFA World Cups and also six African Nations Cups. Not only did he perform in the African Nations Cup, he also managed to
win the trophy twice and in the history of African Nations Cup, it is the Cameroonian who is the all-time highest goal scorer as he found the net 18 times.
He started his club career from Real Madrid back in 1997. All that he could do was to feature for the Real Madrid “B” team and trained with them during his time in the Spanish side. Even though he was only a “minor” at the club, he couldn’t really help the
team and Real Madrid B were relegated to the third tire of the Spanish League and there, non- European Union players were not allowed to play.
As a result, he had to move to the second division team, CD Leganes and played in the club for a year. He was only in the 10th grade as he featured for that team. After appearing 40 times, he managed to bag himself only four goals and had to make
a return to Real Madrid next year. One year later, he had to go out on loan to Espanyol but he never really made an appearance for the club.
In the same season, when winter transfer window opened he moved to the other La Liga team, Mallorca. As the striker had matured by then, he managed to find the net 6 times and played 19 games for the club. When the season ended, Eto’o signed a permanent
deal with Mallorca for a club record 4.4 million pounds fee.
Tags: