Camerionian superstar Samuel Eto'o will test himself in English football after
Chelsea announced on Thursday that he has joined the Premier League
giants on a one-year contract.
The 32-year-old Cameroon striker
arrives from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala on a free transfer, in a
move that may signal the end of Chelsea's pursuit of Manchester United
striker Wayne Rooney.
Chelsea have had two bids for Rooney
rejected and manager Jose Mourinho recently admitted that he had a "Plan
B" in case their pursuit of the England international did not come off.
"I
am very happy to be here, but also anxious because I want to get
playing as soon as possible," said Eto'o, who was pictured brandishing a
Chelsea shirt on the club website.
"It wasn't a hard decision. I
saw the qualities Chelsea have, and I was very happy with Jose Mourinho
before, so when the opportunity came, I was very happy to take it."
Eto'o
previously worked under Mourinho at Inter Milan and was a member of the
team that claimed an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and
Champions League titles in 2010.
The move also reunites him with
former Anzhi team-mate Willian, who completed a switch to Chelsea in a
deal reportedly worth £30 million ($47 million, 35 million euros) on
Wednesday.
Willian and Eto'o are among a number of players to have
been moved on by Anzhi after the Russian side's billionaire owner
Suleiman Kerimov decided to restructure the club and drastically shrink
their budget.
Eto'o is expected to compete with Fernando Torres,
Romelu Lukaku and Demba Ba for a place at the tip of the Chelsea attack,
although he played on the right flank under Mourinho at Inter.
A
four-time African Footballer of the Year, Eto'o began his career in
European football at Real Madrid, but joined Real Mallorca in 2000 after
a successful loan spell.
He lifted the Copa del Rey with Mallorca in 2003 before joining Barcelona a year later.
The
striker enjoyed stunning success at Barcelona, scoring in Champions
League final triumphs in 2006 and 2009 and also claiming three Spanish
league titles.
He subsequently joined Inter in 2009, as part of
the deal that took Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona, and won his third
Champions League title in his first season at San Siro.
It made him the first player to win consecutive European trebles with two different clubs.
His
move to big-spending Anzhi in August 2011 came as something of a shock,
although Kerimov was reported to have made him the best-paid player in
world football.
Eto'o has also won the Africa Cup of Nations on
two occasions with Cameroon and was a member of the team that triumphed
at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment