Samuel Eto'o was forced out of Barcelona 13 years ago and never looked back. How Barcelona could do with a strong voice like his in the squad now.
This brief respite in the packed calendar before the next European season means the onset of an entertaining, risky and frustrating sideshow called the "transfer market." Sometimes, it can be useful to reflect on the past and how it informs the present. For example, we are approaching the 13th anniversary of an atrocious piece of Barcelona summer market business that didn't have the same financial penalties as their recent misadventures, but was nonetheless excruciating and embarrassing for the Camp Nou club.
At the time, Barcelona had just won the treble, only the fifth club to do so, Pep Guardiola had emerged as a catalytic figure -- not only for his club, but for a particularly exciting and intricate brand of football -- and footballers like Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Xavi and Andres Iniesta were about to conquer the world. Yet Samuel Eto'o, despite the best form of his career and 36 goals scored during that treble-winning season, was informed he would be offloaded in order to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan.
You read that correctly: sufficient adults at Camp Nou were foolish enough to think that a) getting the Sweden star instead of Africa's greatest player was a beneficial exchange and that b) Zlatan was worth a higher transfer fee than Eto'o! In the process, Guardiola allowed Barcelona to take on a moody, self-interested player, but pushed out a ferocious, free scoring, Tasmanian Devil force of nature to do so, and paid a €46 million fee for the privilege. Ridiculous.
The rest is history: Zlatan lasted one unhappy season in Blaugrana colours, while Eto'o immediately became the only player in history to win the treble in consecutive seasons: not only was he central to Barca's brilliance in 2008-09, but he was key as Inter ended Barca's Champions League defence in the semifinals, and to the Nerazzurri registering the greatest season in their history. For those keeping score: Eto'o won LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in Spain, and then Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League in Italy, all within 21 months.
Source: www.espn.co.uk
