9 - Samuel Eto'o

[FC433]

Why did Pep want him out? Does anyone remember?

 

[Androutsos]

Why did Pep want him out? Does anyone remember?

Bad attitude, if I recall correctly.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Why did Pep want him out? Does anyone remember?

Pep wanted a total clean out, he thought that our older attacking trio of Deco/R10/Eto were toxic to the team.
And for some reason he had a BBZ type of weird fetish for taller strikers. Wanted Adebayor to replace Eto which alone could have destructive for his legacy, then insisted on Ibra when Txiki wanted Villa.
Eto has a very strong character, and Pep was still young coach, they failed to work out their relation so Pep moved him out after first year and got Ibra

 

[serghei]

Why did Pep want him out? Does anyone remember?

Eto'o wasn't easy to work with but delivered the goods on the field. Pep didn't try to make it work, and Eto'o didn't make it easy either, both stubborn as an ox. One of those cases where nobody made any compromise, despite the fact that the partnership proved to be a great fit in pure football terms. Barca lost a player still in his prime who was the best 9 of his generation and a killer in big games.

I think Pep was to blame more personally. In my opinion, strong personalities shouldn't be sacrificed if they are instrumental for the team.

 

[FC433]

Thank you very much for your responses. I have been watching some older games and I was thinking why did we let him go? He was so good and had a lot to offer; was only 28.

 

[serghei]

Thank you very much for your responses. I have been watching some older games and I was thinking why did we let him go? He was so good and had a lot to offer; was only 28.

Yea, bummer. We 99% beat Inter with Eto'o instead of uselesss Ibra and Bojan (not to mention Eto'o became instrumental for Inter instantly). And repeat the CL. And on Bernabeu. A major fuck-up.

 

[FC433]

I agree. Did not even have a proper goodbye, did he? Ronaldinho? Deco?

 

[serghei]

I agree. Did not even have a proper goodbye, did he? Ronaldinho? Deco?

That wasn't the blown up age of social media, and people weren't as mellow and sentimental back then. Don't remember being such a big case back then, except the fact I was bummed the deal happened as I never liked Ibra.

 

[FC433]

^
I was actually really happy that we got Ibra and I thought we did an excellent deal

 

[serghei]

I think Massimo Morratti tells jokes at high profile parties about that deal .

Trading Ibrahimovic, an underachiever in CL all his career, and got a better player instead in Eto'o + Diego Milito (their main striker in CL) + Motta (another starter) + some 15 million change.

We funded their treble and crippled our own chances to repeat by ending up with Bojan in attack after Ibra fell out with Pep midseason.

Stuff of nightmares.

 

[serghei]

^
I was actually really happy that we got Ibra and I thought we did an excellent deal

It's pretty hilarious how Pep wanted Ibra, since it was public knowledge at the time Ibrahimovic had a gigantic ego. Eto'o was nothing compared to him.

 

[KingLeo10]

I think Massimo Morratti tells jokes at high profile parties about that deal .

Trading Ibrahimovic, an underachiever in CL all his career, and got a better player instead in Eto'o + Diego Milito (their main striker in CL) + Motta (another starter) + some 15 million change.

We funded their treble and crippled our own chances to repeat by ending up with Bojan in attack after Ibra fell out with Pep midseason.

Stuff of nightmares.

Still took a volcano and bad referring to beat us.

 

[serghei]

Still took a volcano and bad referring to beat us.

Yea, but with Eto'o we beat them with the volcano and Benquerenca's disasterclass included. We almost did it with Bojan. And the difference between Eto'o and Bojan was huge.

 

[FC433]

^
I remember when La Liga refused to reschedule our match. We had 2 days or so to prepare.

 

[Vilarrubi]

https://twitter.com/setoo9/status/1318197416118636545?s=21


the GOAT.