He never received the Golden Ball in his career. In fact, she couldn't even claim it, as she was never in the top three. In general, he was never the best, not even his kind. That is, his name was never the answer to the question "who is the top striker of European stadiums", even at the time he was drafted by Barcelona or Inter. In the end, was this the reality or was Samuel Eto'o's hysteria worth something more, as he did on the pitch?
Samuel Eto'o announced his retirement from active action. He had just left Cameroon at 16 to join Real Madrid academies, and at the same age made his debut with his country's national team. Indeed, at the 1998 World Cup he was the youngest player in the competition (17 years and three months). In the meantime, Real may not have appreciated his abilities by constantly lending him money, but in the national Cameroon he had become the leader of the offensive. 2000 and 2002 led his country to the African Nations Cup, while reaching the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, defeating Chavez and Puyol in the Spanish final. In fact, in the two finals of 2000, he found nets numerous times. And all this in its 19.
His departure from Real Madrid for Mallorca at 2000, for 4,5 million (a record-breaking amount for Mallorca at that time) began to take off his career, despite moving to a small and medium-sized club in Spain. At that time, the team from the Balearic Islands was at the top, participating in the Champions League, while the 2003 team arrived to conquer the only Spanish Cup in its history. Of course, Eto'o was the great protagonist, scoring two goals in the final, at 3-0 over Huelva.
Within four years he became Mallorca's all-time leading scorer in La Liga (54 goals) and in the summer of 2004 transferred to Barcelona, despite Real Madrid trying to persuade him to return to Bernabéu. that he had done with his case. The Catalans found themselves in the team's "golden" buns, with him always playing a key role in the successes. At every big appointment, the Cameroonian striker shouted "present", despite the fact that the spotlight was on Ronaldinho (initially) and Messi (later). In both Champions League conquests with the Blaugrana, Eto'o scored in the finals. 2006 against Arsenal and 2009 against Manchester United.
After Real Madrid at the beginning of the decade, it was Barcelona's turn, 2009, to make a mistake with Eto'o. In her attempt to acquire Ibrahimovic from Inter, she gave Cameroonz in exchange for a "narajuri" and the results spoke for themselves. Zlatan stayed for just one season at Camp Nou, with Eto'o celebrating his second treble of the year, 2009 with Barcelona and 2010 with Inter.
His decision to leave Inter in 2011 and pursue a career in Russian Anzhi provoked a storm of reaction. The Cameroonian was then only 30 years old, but in the face of fame he preferred money. The € 20 million he agreed to receive annually from Suleiman Kerimov then made him the highest paid footballer on the planet. His move gave pressure to his critics, but even so he was in the spotlight. His career had already taken a turn for the worse, despite the fact that in 2013 he returned to a high level, wearing the Chelsea jersey. His passage from the "blues" was marked by a hat-trick against Manchester United and the celebration as a grandfather, after the peaks that Mourinho had left for his age.
Everton, Sampdoria, Antalyaspor, Coniaspor and Qatar have just completed Cameroon's magical journey to the stadiums. His achievements at the collective and national level speak for themselves of what Eto'o has accomplished, mainly in the 2000-2010 decade. First scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, first scorer in the history of the national Cameroon and four times top African footballer of the year. He may well be the all-time leader in the Black Epirus. There would probably be no doubt about the latter, unless it was of a 'special' character and often placed himself above the team.
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