Objectively, what is the prime of Eto'o ?

Etoshow

Junior Member
I want the opinion of people who watched him when he played for Majorca, Barcelona and Inter Milan. He was a beast in each of that clubs but what version of Samuel Eto'o do you think was the best ? For my brother and me, there is a debate between Eto'o 2005/2006 and Eto'o 2010/2011 (the season following the trebble with Inter when he took the lead of Inter's front line).

Your opinion about that with arguments that explain your choice, please.
 

serghei

Senior Member
2005-2010 for me. Still bummed Pep and Eto'o fucked that up, was a perfect partnership on football terms, while on personal terms it was a mismatch. I think if Pep was older and smarter he would've acted differently.

Imagine going from Eto'o to Bojan. :facepalm:

Eto'o was the best "9" I've seen at Barca since I started following the club. Better than Suarez.
 
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Morten

Senior Member
2005-2010 for me. Still bummed Pep and Eto'o fucked that up, was a perfect partnership on football terms, while on personal terms it was a mismatch. I think if Pep was older and smarter he would've acted differently.

Eto`o + 35 mill for Zlatan remains one of the worst transfers of all time.
Zlatan wasn`t even better, and Barca put 35 mill on top of the swap?
 

Etoshow

Junior Member
2005-2010 for me. Still bummed Pep and Eto'o fucked that up, was a perfect partnership on football terms, while on personal terms it was a mismatch. I think if Pep was older and smarter he would've acted differently.

Imagine going from Eto'o to Bojan. :facepalm:

Do you want to say 2005-2006 instead 2005-2010 ? I want to know if he was better individually at Barcelona or at Inter Milan for his last season there.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Eto`o + 35 mill for Zlatan remains one of the worst transfers of all time.
Zlatan wasn`t even better, and Barca put 35 mill on top of the swap?

Yea, that's what happens when you burn bridges. You expose yourself to bad deals. This is why it's not wise to a fallout with your stars. It was known in the market that Pep and Eto'o had a feud. And once clubs knew Barca had to sell, it was only going to end up in a bad deal.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Do you want to say 2005-2006 instead 2005-2010 ? I want to know if he was better individually at Barcelona or at Inter Milan for his last season there.

Should've asked for peak then. 2005-2006 for me. But 2008-09 is close. No doubt better at Barca than Inter, but Inter got a world class striker with insane pedigree in big games, and sold us a genius wanker underachiever in Ibra. The problem of Ibra is we had a genius monster in Messi, so he basically didn't have a place in the team, as a focal point. And he was much too proud and uneducated to take a step back and contribute as a team player. Zlatan is the personification of the galactico type.

Ibrahimovic was insanely overrated at the top. Someone on redcafe said it best. He stayed the longest in the top 5 out of all strikers of his generation, but was never even top 3 during his career. Eto'o didn't have Zlatan's longevity, but in his pomp was the best of the lot. And we sold him in his pomp. You sell Eto'o in 2010 instead of 2009, replace him with Villa, and you win 3 back to back La Liga - CL doubles. Unseen.
 
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serghei

Senior Member
Also, Eto'o was great enough to even allow False 9 Messi to happen. One of the best pure strikers at playing wide when needed.
 

Etoshow

Junior Member
I really think you underrate the level he reached in 2010-2011 after that Jose moved to Real Madrid. When people think about Eto'o with Inter Milan, they remember the trebble season in 2009-2010 but always forget what Eto'o did the season after. He was a monster that season even if I think 2006 was his peak because quicker. Technically a monster, a terrible goalscorer and I remember the champions league game where he single handedly Kneck Bayern out of the competition. He was may be even the CL top scorer before their elimination.
 

serghei

Senior Member
Btw, another sign that Xavi might be a great manager is that he was the one who talked to Pep and convinced him to keep Eto'o for 2008-09 season.

I really think you underrate the level he reached in 2010-2011 after that Jose moved to Real Madrid. When people think about Eto'o with Inter Milan, they remember the trebble season in 2009-2010 but always forget what Eto'o did the season after. He was a monster that season even if I think 2006 was his peak because quicker. Technically a monster, a terrible goalscorer and I remember the champions league game where he single handedly Kneck Bayern out of the competition. He was may be even the CL top scorer before their elimination.

Players are also remembered based on their team's performances. That was the year Inter was trashed at home by Schalke 5-2.
 

Etoshow

Junior Member
Btw, another sign that Xavi might be a great manager is that he was the one who talked to Pep and convinced him to keep Eto'o for 2008-09 season.



Players are also remembered based on their team's performances. That was the year Inter was trashed at home by Schalke 5-2.

You're right but he was better than during the trebble with Bar?a for example. With all fairness, I don't see anybody better that season except Messi, not even Ronaldo. He single handedly carried Inter Milan because his teammates weren't at their best.
 
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