Chelsea’s latest recruit Samuel Eto’o is playing in the English Premier League for the first time in his career, but the striker has revealed that the case could have been different had he joined Arsenal way back in 2000. Eto’o had the chance to join the Gunners then but instead he opted for a move in Spain to Real Mallacora.
“I met Luis (who went on to coach Spain) at a crucial moment in my life where I had to take the right direction – and thanks to him I did. I was about to sign that very afternoon at Arsenal and maybe I would never have been the player I am today. Luis picked me, then I ended up joining Barcelona. That decision changed everything,” concluded Eto’o.
Eto’o remained with the La Liga side for four seasons before joining Barcelona and going on to become one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. He moved to Italy and joined Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan as part of a swap deal for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and after a brief stint with the Nerazzuri club, Eto’o joined Russian club Anzhi, which made him the highest paid footballer in the planet before reuniting with Mourinho at Chelsea this season.
Mourinho has moved to bring him to Stamford Bridge, having allowed Romelu Lukaku to join Everton on a season-long loan, and the Cameroonian will compete with Fernando Torres and Demba Ba to spearhead the talented Chelsea attack.
Chelsea fans would hope that he rises up to the benchmark that he has set for himself and fire in the goals that the club has apparently been lacking.
On a totally different note, although Arsenal fans would like to believe that the arrival of Mesut Ozil would make them one of the premier force of the league and would allow them to compete for the title once again, Arsenal legend George Graham is not convinced that Ozil alone would make them a contender this season. He has credited his scepticism due to lack of squad depth at Arsenal and has expressed his surprise for Arsenal not buying more players this transfer window. Recently in an interview he has been quoted as saying the following.
“I’m surprised Arsenal didn’t get a couple more players in. They needed a centre-forward. If you are going to win the title, you need someone getting you 20 league goals, not 20 cup goals. They could have done with an experienced goalkeeper.”
“The goalkeeper they have got – Wojciech Szczesny – is still in a learning process. Yet most teams that win the Premier League always have a very strong centre-half like Nemanja Vidic at Manchester United or Vincent Kompany at City.”