Carrer Samuel Eto'o

Samuel Eto'o, fils (French pronunciation: [samɥɛl eto fis]; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a striker for Italian Serie A club Internazionale and is currently serving as captain of the Cameroon national team.

Eto'o scored over 100 goals in five seasons with FC Barcelona, and is also the record holder in number of appearances by an African player in La Liga. As of June 2009, he is the joint 3rd highest goalscorer in Barça's history, along with Rivaldo. He is the second player to have ever scored in two separate UEFA Champions League finals.

As a member of the Cameroon national team, he was a part of the squad that won the 2000 Olympic tournament; he has participated in two World Cups and five African Nations Cups (being champion twice), and is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the African Nations Cup, with 18 goals.

Club career

Real Madrid

Samuel Eto'o joined Real Madrid in 1997, but he could only train with Real Madrid B, as he was still a minor. Real Madrid B were relegated to the Segunda División B, where non-EU players are not allowed, and as a result he was loaned to second-division CD Leganés for the 1996-97 season. After making 30 appearances for the club and only scoring 4 goals, he returned to Madrid following the end of the 1997-98 season. In January 1999, he was loaned out to Espanyol, but failed to make any appearances for the club.

Mallorca

Samuel Eto'o departed Mallorca as the club's all-time leading domestic league scorer (54 goals) when he signed for FC Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €24 million, after lengthy three-way negotiations with Mallorca and Madrid. Initially, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez wanted to buy back the full transfer rights and loan him out again but eventually the Barcelona deal proved lucrative enough to warrant a sale. Additionally, the team already had its full quota of three non-EU players.

The same season, in the winter transfer window, he went to first-division team Mallorca on loan, scoring 6 goals in 13 games. At the end of the season, Eto'o left Real Madrid, signing a permanent deal with Mallorca for a club record £4.4 million fee.

In his second season, he scored 11 goals and began to garner attention throughout the league. Mallorca club president Mateo Alemany said of his style of play: "I doubt if there is any other player in the world who would please the fans more at this moment." Eto'o himself commented on his rise to stardom, "I like it here in Mallorca, I have always been well looked after, the fans appreciate me and I also have a contract that runs until 2007." He returned the fans' appreciation when he donated €30,000 in meals to travelling Mallorca supporters who made the journey to the Copa del Rey final against Recreativo Huelva in 2003. Mallorca won the match 3–0 with Eto'o scoring two late goals to seal the victory. However, his volatile attitude resulted in several off-pitch incidents. Bartolome Terrassa, a television journalist, filed a formal complaint after a run-in with Eto'o in the club's parking lot, accusing the player of saying, "The next time, you are not going to escape; I'm going to kill you." This was not the first incident, however, as the previous year Eto'o's former agent, Daniel Argibeaut, accused the player of assaulting him with four accomplices, saying, "They then took off my shoes, which in Cameroon means I am threatened with death."

Barcelona

Samuel Eto'o made his Barcelona debut in the season opener at Racing Santander on 29 August 2004. After Barcelona won the 2004–05 La Liga title, the team organized a festive party in the Camp Nou, during which Eto'o harangued the fans chanting, "Madrid, cabrón, saluda al campeón" (roughly: "Madrid, bastards, salute the champions"). The Spanish Football Federation fined Eto'o €12,000 for his comments, for which he later apologized. He expressed regret and asked for forgiveness from Real Madrid, his first professional team. The head of the Real Madrid fan club federation remained unimpressed however, stating: "This character is a fantastic player, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a person." He signed an improved contract with Barça in June 2005. A few days later Lionel Messi agreed a similar deal.

After missing out on the previous year's Pichichi (top La Liga goalscorer), Eto'o edged out Valencia CF striker David Villa for the award during the final matchday on 20 May 2006 when he scored his 26th goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao. Eto'o was very gracious to teammates after the game saying, "It has been a team effort although only one person gets the award. We've worked hard all season and have got our just rewards."

Eto'o also contributed six goals during Barcelona's run to the 2005–06 Champions League title. In the final, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off early on for bringing down Eto'o just outside of the penalty area, but the Catalans struggled to capitalize on their one-man advantage until Eto'o scored the game-tying goal in the second half. Barcelona went on to win the match 2–1 and Eto'o was awarded with the UEFA Best Forward of the Year award for his accomplishments in the European campaign.

Internazionale

Eto'o scored two goals during a thrilling win over Palermo which ended 5-3, with a brace also being scored by Mario Balotelli. Eto'o also scored in the Champion's league round-of-16 against Chelsea, in the 2nd leg on 16 March 2010, which allowed Inter to progress to the quarter-finals.

After Maxwell completed the transfer from Internazionale, Joan Laporta confirmed that there was an agreement in principle between Barcelona and Internazionale for Zlatan Ibrahimović to join the club in exchange for Eto'o and €46 million. After Ibrahimović agreed terms with Barcelona, the club announced Eto'o would travel to Milan for his medical to complete the transfer.

On 27 July 2009 Eto'o passed his medical and signed for five years with Internazionale. On his first press-conference in Milan he declared that he was where he wanted to be and refused to compare himself to Ibrahimović saying: "I'm Samuel Eto'o and I don't want to compare myself to anyone. I believe the victories I have earned up to now can contribute to giving the right value to my name." On the 8th August, Eto'o scored his first competitive goal for Inter, in the 2009 Supercoppa Italiana. Two weeks later, Eto'o scored from the penalty spot against A.S. Bari in his first Serie A match. In the following match, the Milan Derby, Eto'o won Inter a penalty, after being brought down by Gennaro Gattuso in the box. This was important because that penalty caused Gattuso to be yellow-carded. He would eventually be sent off. Eto'o scored again on 13 September against Parma, his first goal from open play in a Serie A match.

At the end of September 2009, Eto'o demanded almost £2.75m from Barcelona after his transfer to Internazionale. The amount represented 15% of the US$29 million (£17.7m) fee which Inter paid Barcelona in July 2009. The demand was based on a Spanish rule that a player should get 15% of the amount of his transfer to another Spanish club. If the parties failed to reach a solution the matter could go to court.