Witters Sport-USA TODAY Sports
Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o should be leaving Russian Premier League team Anzhi Makhachkala this offseason. His likely destination is unknown, but there are multiple European squads that would love to grab his signature.
Eto’o has played for a number of prominent soccer clubs, including Inter Milan and Barcelona. While at Inter, Eto’o won his third Champions League final with current Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at the helm.
The 32-year-old was transferred to Anzhi Makhachkala from Inter in 2011, and he signed a contract with Anzhi that made him the highest-salaried soccer player in the world over Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
However, now that Anzhi owner Suleyman Kerimov has been plagued by financial trouble, the team is becoming based more on the youth academy than on high-salaried players. Eto’o should be one of the first players to hit the road considering his monster contract.
There are a number of teams interested in signing Eto’o with the LA Galaxy being one of them. You can’t really expect LA to fork up the kind of money that will be needed to acquire the former Barcelona standout, so it looks like the best suitors for Eto’o are European clubs like Napoli, AC Milan and Chelsea.
Napoli could use another striker, and they definitely posses enough funds to acquire the African after the sale of Uruguayan superstar Edison Cavani to Paris Saint-Germain for €64 million. Another Italian squad, AC Milan, could use an experienced veteran with knowledge and skill on their side.
Since Mourinho is coaching Chelsea, Eto’o will most likely end up at Stamford Bridge if anywhere else. The Cameroonian played under Mourinho when he won his third Champion’s League final, and according to the Daily Mirror, he specifically expressed his interest in playing for Mourinho again.“I have played under a lot of great coaches – but there is no other character in the game like Jose. He is one of the best coaches in the world – and we had a lot of success together at Inter Milan. I would like to have the chance to play under him again – because it is never boring when Jose is around.”
Eto’o's high wages and old age may not fit Chelsea’s current mold, but the striker is still capable of contributing to a top club. It will be interesting to see where Eto’o ends up.
