9 - Samuel Eto'o

[yusuf]

What bed is that? After winning a treble with Barca where he was declared unwanted he was chucked to Inter where he won the triple again and whose club eliminated Barca in CL. Looks like a comfortable bed to me.

The thing is he wasn't offered a fair increase in his wages while everyone else got theirs. " Problem character" also doesn't hold water as the club got Ibra after him. Yeah. Think also about Ibra's 12 mil. wages immediately upon signing whereas Barca legend Eto was scrutinized for waiting for a lesser offer. He loved the club more than any foreigner I saw wearing Barca shirt in 20 years and would have stayed for sure if the club wasn't acting cheap where they shouldn't just to avoid paying taxes. So let's put the "leave for free" fairy tale to bed already. It was Pep who wanted him out and the club being cheap. Simple as that.
Thankfully, the club didn't manage to sell Eto when they first thought as I doubt we would won the treble without him.

and FFS all we had to do was give him the ibra wages which he soooo clearly deserves and it would be fine.

 

[FCBarca]

You really think it was simply a matter of the club being cheap?...I don't buy that argument really, they have had and will continue to have players at high wages.

As for Pep, his reasons for not wanting him probably aren't too far removed from the reasons I was concerned about Samu...As we all, painfully, can recall when Pep came on board...He didn't enter the club at a high point but at a low one and one where cleaning house was needed...The clubhouse was divided and it was clear there were different rules for different players...Rightly or wrongly, Samu was included in that group with Ronnie & Deco but somehow managed to convince Pep to give it a go...The fact that he was uber successful at Barca that season apparently was undercut by whatever was going on internally...Things that we have to either concede we, as fans, aren't privy to or that Pep is a nut and simply cast him aside on a whim...My belief (And I base this more on the way Pep acted around Eto'O more than anything else) was that the concern remained from the skipper, that Samu would derail the team concept...That while he clearly loved the club and vice versa, he couldn't be counted on to stay in line when told to do so...Everyone else seemed to have no issues with that, everyone except Eto'O

 

[Barcaman]

I stopped at the first paragraph as you obviously didn't read my post. Did I say "only" for being cheap? You also don't understand how taxes work in Spain.

 

[FCBarca]

I stopped at the first paragraph as you obviously didn't read my post. Did I say "only" for being cheap?

Nah, I read it...Just tackling each point

 

[Barcaman]

But you still don't understand the taxes and that Barca would be forced to pay massive taxes on Eto extension as he was already a citizen.

 

[FCBarca]

And wasn't Samu MIA for a good bit of time after the season ended too?...Didn't Laporta & Txiki have a hard time finding him let alone getting him to respond to contract extensions?...Smelled very familiar to a ploy players will try to employ in an attempt to leverage their last season into a hefty payday by flirting with another club

 

[Metaphysical]

he was moved on because he was a temperamental nutter, the money had nothing to do with it because as has been said, zlatan's wages were enormous. he also was not happy playing wide (he did it in a pinch, sure, like he did for inter in the run-in... but he never liked it) and that is gonna be a major feature of our team now with messi's continuing emergence as a false9.

PLUS

we needed a change. you can't sit still on such immense success like a treble, it breeds complacency. making such a major change up-front sharpened our focus tremendously and helped us charge to that mammoth haul of 99 points.

love the guy to death, and he's a barca legend, but he had to move on.

 

[Barcaman]

Only the change didn't help us at all. And Tito's "someone to cross the ball to" plan failed big time with Swede. Also, when comparing points it would be also fair to compare Champions league and Copa fortunes without Eto.
Eto was never offered a fair increase in wages and that's the bottom line.
What reason stood behind it? Pep not wanting him or Laporta's whim (as he himself admitted what happened during his flight over Italy) to get Ibra? Prospect of being forced to pay big taxes on Eto extension? Doesn't matter really. What bugs me seeing people still depicting Eto as some greedy bastard trying to milk the club when, in truth, he was the one who was treated unfairly.

 

[FCBarca]

I go back to that pointed celebration by Samu in the 2-2 draw with Betis...They way he ran to Pep and basically 'showing him up', I just felt that their relationship wasn't quite solid enough to endure...Both are alpha dogs and push comes to shove, the manager has to have the last word

Even considering the tax issue, I can't recall a time a player who was uber productive was deemed surplus due to the tax implications or money...If they loved the club and produced, the wages and/or taxes just couldn't enter into the discussion

 

[Barcaman]

So you are saying Eto didn't love the club and didn't produce. Seriously Mike. Those 2 things are basically everything Eto was about.

 

[FCBarca]

Well, Bojan, I don't deem Eto'O as greedy...I would deem him as temperamental as Meta pointed out...If not the Betis celebration than the infamous 'I refuse to come on' fiasco with Rijkaard...Love the player but I think a lot gets swept under the rug in how he behaved at the club...Which is a big reason why I continue to believe that had the player sincerely want to remain at the club and fall in line, he'd still be here

So you are saying Eto didn't love the club and didn't produce. Seriously Mike. Those 2 things are basically everything Eto was about.

Actually, saying that because he loved the club AND that he produced, wages/taxes couldn't be the issue....It'd be a helluva precedent as I mentioned, I mean who else was shown the door at the club for similar financial reasons?

 

[Metaphysical]

Only the change didn't help us at all. And Tito's "someone to cross the ball to" plan failed big time with Swede. Also, when comparing points it would be also fair to compare Champions league and Copa fortunes without Eto.

99 points.

ninety nine points.

that shit is mad.

the copa was down to a bad ref call on a penalty at camp nou.

the CL was just bad luck, in '09 we had ref calls on our side in the SF, but in '10 we didn't. them's the breaks. and zlatan did more to get us to the semi-final than eto'o did (3 away goals, more than eto'o managed in his whole barca career). neither did doodley squat in the semi-final, but eto'o scored in the final because we got there. who can say what zlatan would have done had we made it to madrid? and let's not forget THE GIANT ASH CLOUD that grounded air traffic and forced us to go to milan via coach. if we fly to milan, again... who can say?

as for crossing the ball; you really have to stop obsessing over one quote ffs. zlatan did his job as a #9 well, not as well as he could have done, but he was good.

Eto was never offered a fair increase in wages and that's the bottom line.

agreed, because pep wanted to move him on.

What reason stood behind it? Pep not wanting him or Laporta's whim (as he himself admitted what happened during his flight over Italy) to get Ibra? Reality of being forced to pay big taxes on Eto extension? Doesn't matter really. What bugs me seeing people still depicting Eto as some greedy bastard trying to milk the club when, in truth, he was the one who was treated unfairly.

well I don't think eto'o was forced out because he was greedy, but he certainly tried to milk money out of the club after he left. demanding payments and whatnot.

anyway, he's a barca legend and I wish him well. there's obviously a sense of disappointment seeing him perform for someone else, but he had to leave us when he did.

 

[Barcaman]

Mike, financial reasons are just one aspect. I'll repeat for the 10th time. He was told through press that he can go but he stayed on proved that decision was wrong.
One year after the club didn't offer him a fair increase like they did to Xavi, Messi and Iniesta. Eto had to declare his love for the club only for them to offer him an insulting extension through text message. Who was to blame for his exit is fairly obvious.

the CL was just bad luck, in '09 we had ref calls on our side in the SF, but in '10 we didn't. them's the breaks. and zlatan did more to get us to the semi-final than eto'o did (3 away goals, more than eto'o managed in his whole barca career). neither did doodley squat in the semi-final, but eto'o scored in the final because we got there.

Only, Zlatan played as central striker and Eto as a left back. Fair comparison. If anything it only proves Eto as a better team player. Willing to sacrifice himself for the team.

And no, I'm not obsessed with a quote but some of you need reminding what the change was all about. It was about having a man in the box able to head crosses as Pep was frustrated with our lack of chances vs. Chelsea. Sounds overly simplistic but sometimes those things are just that.

 

[FCBarca]

Moreover, I think it's a little unfair to skirt the realities of what Samu & his agent were doing leading up to the sale, as well...It was reported repeatedly that the board & Pep couldn't even reach Mesalles & Eto'O...And didn't Mesalles hold a pressy, calling the club liars, that they didn't need to speak to Guardiola and then somehow disappear into the night?


Pep's Pressy on Samu

"I'm convinced that the best thing for Barça is that Eto'o leaves. Can I be wrong? Of course. But I'm there to make a series of decisions. I feel that this is the best for the club and for the team.

This decision is exclusively mine. It's a feeling I have. I cannot change the character of anyone, but I can decide on which players I can count next season. After what we won last season, we need to make some changes in the dressing-room. And that doesn't only involve Samuel but also other players. I took this decision based on my experience as a player.

I perfectly understand that the people ask why, but this is my decision. Samuel is a great player and our excellent performances last season were, among other things, thanks to him. Without Samuel we probably wouldn't have won that many trophies. When we asked him to sacrifice himself for the team, he did that without complaining. So there are no sporting reasons. Samuel has his character, his personality and that makes him who he is. There's no one serious fact that lead to this decision.

I'm grateful to Samuel. He's fantastic. He has been an example on and off the pitch. I didn't yet talk to him about this. I hope he won't be angry. I always try to be straight and talk face-to-face. I cannot live otherwise. Of course there's a chance he stays and if that happens, we'll analyze the situation. I don't think we can keep Eto'o and sign Ibrahimovic. We're rich but not that rich."

Mike, financial reasons are just one aspect. I'll repeat for the 10th time. He was told through press that he can go but he stayed on proved that decision was wrong.
One year after the club didn't offer him a fair increase like they did to Xavi, Messi and Iniesta. Eto had to declare his love for the club only for them to offer him an insulting extension through text message. Who was to blame for his exit is fairly obvious.

I think that's the area that is unclear, for me, Bojan...What was indeed offered and how either side acted in that offer...I don't know that there's an easy to way to really know what went down in terms of money and offers...I mean, where's the paper trail on that?

But the clubhouse or character issue, there is a paper trail for that

 

[Barcaman]

Pep also praised Chygrynskiy after every performance he made. There's a paper trail for that as well.
Pep also didn't talk about Ibra's character when clearly he dismissed him because of it (along with his agent) Unfortunately, there is no paper trail for that, so it probably doesn't exist?