Serie A Special: Capocannoniere Candidate Samuel Eto’o
The Cameroonian international is as deadly a finisher as they come. Someone who started his career from the unknown Kadji Sports Academy, his rise to fame is nothing short of extraordinary.
Samuel Eto’o started off his senior career with Real Madrid, but failed to make it to the senior team and was subsequently loaned out to Leganes, Espanyol and Mallorca who decided to snap him up in 2000 for a meagre fee of 4.4 million pounds. The stocks of the prolific scorer have gone up ever since. Eto’o has scored 54 goals in 133 league appearances, a solid if not spectacular return. The 54 goals also made him the club’s leading all time goal scorer. His fine form earned him a move to Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for 24 million Euros.
His partnership with Ronaldinho, Xavi and Messi in later days was to become the stuff that legends indulge in. Frank Rijkaard’s all conquering Barcelona team had Samuel Eto’o as the leading weapon in his armoury. In the five seasons that he spent in Catalunya, the striker scored 25, 26, 11, 16 and 30 goals respectively. In all, he scored 108 goals in just 145 league appearances - a record even the best can only dream about. Eto’o won the Pichichi Trophy, became the Spanish La Liga’s top scorer in 2006 and narrowly missed out on three other occasions.
For all his exploits with Barcelona, the relationship with the club was straining, resulting in some high profile clash of words with Ronaldinho. Even a Champions League triumph in 2009 wasn’t sufficient to convince the striker to stay. Internazionale with the Charismatic Jose Mourinho came calling and Eto’o duly accepted the offer. Eto’o appeared in 31 league matches scoring a respectable 12 goals. Eto’o was frequently played out of position on the wing by the Portuguese tactician from where he could lead counter attacks with his lightening pace. The scoring may have dropped a little but his influence throughout the season was pivotal, often drawing out defenders and creating space for strike partner Diego Milito to run havoc. His selfless play and deadly finishing against Chelsea FC in the Champions league comes to mind; all praise to Eto’o for not complaining even once about being played out of position.
Jose Mourinho won a historic treble for the Milan based club after winning the coveted Champions League trophy for the third time in his career and breaking Inter Milan’s dry spell that had lasted for a miserable 46 years. It was a job well done for Mourinho who packed his stuff and left for the ultimate challenge of coaching Real Madrid. The Champions league trophy has eluded the Spanish giants for almost a decade and the clubs supremely demanding fans covet a historic number ten trophy.
With departure of Mourinho, club president Massimo Moratti recruited shrewd Spanish tactician, Rafa Benitez to lead the club. Benitez has a very impressive resume but the winning mentality of Mourinho would be sorely missed.
Time cannot be any more fitting for this Cameroonian to step up. With the genius tactics of Mourinho gone, Eto’o needs to start firing on all cylinders again. With the counter attacking 4-3-3 of Jose Mourinho replaced, Benitez will play a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-2-1 formation. In either case, Eto’o would be closer to the box and the goal than he was under Mourinho. He will now have the service of Wesley Sneijder and the prodigious Philippe Coutinho at his disposal.
Samuel Eto’o will definitely be one of the players to watch out in the Capocannoniere charts. Eto’o will face stiff competition upon Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to Serie A. The Diego Forlan-Samuel Eto’o rivalry has been replaced by that of Zlatan-Eto’o. Serie A fans will not complain as they will be looking forward to the juicy competition. If Rafa Benitez gets his tactics right, Eto’o and his scoring exploits will get him the Calcio title on his debut season in the Italian Serie A.
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