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Eto’o is a fast, strong, and energetic forward, who is known for his stamina, work-rate, ability in the air, and his accurate finishing ability both with his head and feet. A powerful and prolific goalscorer with good technique, composure in front of goal, and an ability to play off other forwards, Eto’o is primarily deployed as a central striker, although during his time at Inter, under José Mourinho, he demonstrated notable tactical intelligence and versatility by playing in several other positions on the pitch.[98] During Inter’s 2009–10 treble-winning season, Eto’o played an important role in the squad, and was utilised as a winger or even as an attacking midfielder in Mourinho’s 4–2–3–1 formation, where he was primarily required to help his team creatively and defensively with his link-up play and work-rate off the ball. During the return leg of the Champions League semi-final match against Barcelona, Eto’o demonstrated his workrate and versatility by playing as an attacking full-back following Thiago Motta’s controversial sending-off. Eto’o has also been renowned for his leadership, opportunism and mentality throughout his career. In his prime, Eto’o was regarded by pundits as one of the best strikers in the world; he is currently regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time. He is often ranked among the three greatest African strikers, alongside George Weah and Didier Drogba. Despite losing some of his speed with age, he continued to maintain a consistent goalscoring rate as a striker, due to his ability to get into good positions and time his attacking runs, as shown by his goal in a 6–3 loss against Chelsea on 30 August 2014, during his time with Everton. Despite his advancing age, Eto’o has maintained his dribbling skills in his later career, which he uses to his advantage to beat defenders and assist teammates. In his mid-thirties Eto’o incorporated an ‘old man’ routine in his goal celebration – a response to jibes by José Mourinho about being too old – where he bent over and started walking slowly with an imaginary cane, with the celebration featuring in EA Sports’ FIFA video game FIFA 18.
Did you Know?
These boots were worn by Samuel Eto’o with U.C.Sampdoria and F.C. Anzhi in two different moments of his career. This model is the Puma “Evospeed 1” that Eto’o firstly used over the 2012/2013 season when he played for F.C.Anzhi and he totally hand painted with a black marker when he wore them with Sampdoria U.C. in the 2014/2015 season. The player was a longterm Puma testimonial during his career until his contract ended up at the beginning of the 2014/2015 when he was at Everton F.C. Since then Eto’o started playing with his old Puma boots, totally painted black. You can see below the original boots he used with Anzhi F.C. before he moved to Sampdoria U.C. Even if painted black Eto’o’s name and number 9 on the heel are still very visible. Eto’o joined Sampdoria U.C. on January 27th 2015 on a two-and-a-half-year deal. For Sampdoria he played 18 games scoring two goals. On 25 June 2015, he moved to Turkish side Antalyaspor on a three-year contract.
