Samuel Eto'o - The Forgotten Talisman.

Of the many legends that have a had a chance to play for Barcelona there was 1 striker in particular, who would always deliver goals when needed. A man who along with his team gained a lot of success, but it seems like has become a forgotten figure. He’s name is Samuel Eto’o.

As a 16yr old Samuel Eto’o would move to Real Madrid to begin his career training under there youth academy, but he was only allowed to train with the B Team due to him being a minor. But sadly, that all changed.

As Real Madrid B team got relegated to the 3rd tier of Spanish Football where in which non-european players were not allowed to participate in. This led to him being on loan a numerous of times. Where in which he finally was snapped by Mallorca in 2004.

There he would finally get some stable playing time and make a name for himself. You could say he was kind of a late bloomer as it did take him a couple of years to start being recognised for his skills. As evident from these stats.

But in his 1st year at Mallorca, he would bag 6 goals in 19 appearances, which wasn’t really bad for a 19yr old to say the least but at the same time it wasn’t anything you would consider amazing. But still that loan was enough for them to sign him permanently from Madrid.

His 2nd year was definitely an improvement as he went onto score 13 goals and 3 assists in 33 games, and that came with massive plaudits from not only Mallorca fans but also the club president Mateo Alemany who stated:

Samuel Eto’o stayed with Mallorca until 2004 and in that time, he scored 70 goals in a 165 Appearances. Ultimately being the clubs all-time leading goal scorer. But his club was not that successful bar winning the Copa Del Rey in which he would score 2 goals in the Final.

Mallorca couldn't meet his demands & he was one the sought-after strikers at the time for many big clubs. Specifically, Barcelona & Real. Ultimately, Samuel Eto’o put pen to paper and signed for the Blaugrana’s. As he had a grudge towards Madrid who sold him not too long ago.

In his 1st Year with FC Barcelona, they would go onto win La Liga Title and he would go onto score an impressive 29 goals in 45 Appearances with a goal ratio of 0.65 goals to game. In fact, when Barca won the title Eto’o was fined €12,000 for singing this:

Eto’o 2nd season with Barcelona would be his best performance of his career as he would score a monstrous 34 goals, 10 assists in 47 appearances. Winning La Liga Golden Boot and helping Barcelona win La Liga Title, Spanish Super Cup and the UCL in which he scored.

Unfortunately, the year of 2005 was his teammates Ronaldinho as he was the Ballon D’or winner that year while Eto’o ended in 10th place. Which is a bit sad as he was voted UEFA Best Forward of the Year and was in 2nd FIFA World XI & won a historic 3rd African Player of the Year.

In the 06/07 Eto’o would have his worst season in Barcelona scoring 13g and 11a in 27app. Which really isn’t bad at all and would be considered great by another play bar Eto’o This was due to him getting a big injury at the start of the campaign that kept him out for a few months

In 07/08 season Eto’o would again miss out on a lot of games as his injuries were ongoing but despite that he would still amazingly well scoring 18 times and getting 4 assists in 28 games. Interestingly he would score the fastest hattrick in Barca history in 23min against Almeria

Then 2 games later he would score 4 goals in 1 half against Real Valladolid which ended 6-0. Finally, in his last year at Barcelona he would have his highest goal scoring season with 36g, 9a in 52app.

That season Barcelona had just won everything on sight, scoring again in another Champion League Final against previous holders Manchester United. Winning his 2nd Treble for the club.

All in all, Eto’o would score an amazing 130g in 199app having a goal scoring ratio of 0.65 goals a game throughout the 5yrs. Additionally at his time Barcelona he would outscore everyone there 4/5 times there only being outperformed by Ronaldinho in 2006 which he was injured.

Nobody really knew the absolute truth as to why he left Barcelona but allegedly it was due to his relationship with Pep Guardiola. This led to a major Transfers where in which Barcelona offered Eto’o + 65mil for Zlatan Ibrahimović.

In 2009, Eto’o would thrive in Italy becoming the integral piece to their campaign in which he would bag 16g, 9a in 48app for them. This led to the team winning an iconic Treble. Making Eto’o the only player to win the treble in consecutive season with 2 different teams.

In 2010/11 campaign Samuel Eto’o would have another monster season bagging 37 goals and 15 assists in 53 games. Making it the highest goalscoring season of his career. Becoming Serie A top goal scorer and winning the Serie A again.

After such success the media started making up a comparison and narrative similar to Ibrahimović. Eto’o took that personal because he felt like he had something to prove as he went onto say the following:

With Inter Milan Samuel Eto’o went onto score 53 goals in 102 appearances, scoring 0.52 goals per game. This season was somewhat the last we saw of him in his prime as he went onto play in Russia and age was getting to him.

In the 3yrs he spent at FC Anzhi Makhachkala he scored 36 goals in 73 appearances. After that he had a couple of seasons in the Premier League for Chelsea and Everton and did play well but clearly wasn’t the same player he once was.

Which then led to him playing in Italy, Turkey and Qatar where he ultimately retired in 2019. In his entire career Eto’o would score 356 goals in 730 appearances averaging 0.49 goals a game throughout the 21yrs of playing.

Samuel Eto’o is widely considered one of if not The Greatest African Player Ever! He won the African Footballer of The Year a record 4 times, African League of Nations all time goal scorer and Cameroon’s All time goal scorer.

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Samuel Eto’o will be one the of the greatest strikers to ever grace the game and is somewhat overlooked and underrated during his illustrious career. But Nevertheless a Complete Legend for not only Barcelona but in the World.