Samuel Eto’o is an angry man at present. It seems the wound inflicted by Jose Mourinho’s jeers have yet to heal over and Eto’o has recently branded him a ‘fool’ and a ‘puppet.’
In light of this, speculation has been rife concerning the Cameroonian striker’s next destination, and a lot of it is directed at Arsenal.
Apparently, Eto’o is determined to prove Mourinho wrong and continue to play at football’s highest level, with the Emirates stadium his number one destination.
Eto’o, at 33 three years old, isn’t getting any younger. Though, saying that, he does still have a bit of speed about him and the hunger is most certainly still there.
He only started 21 games in the Premier League and Champions League for Chelsea last season, but he did manage to rack up 12 goals and a few assists. He may not be in his prime, but he does still know where the goal is.
So, would Arsenal benefit from signing him? In short, it wouldn’t hurt to have him. He’s a proven goal scorer with Premier League experience and he holds a degree of contempt towards Chelsea. An enemy of Mourinho is a friend of mine.
He’s out of contract so he is free, and although his wages will be significant, on a one or two year contract, it is nothing Arsenal cannot afford.
If Arsène does decide to sign him, it is important that his capture does not take the place of any other transfer targets. He should be considered an extra. A luxury.
Let’s say that Arsène is looking to add Álvaro Morata and Loïc Rémy to our attack. That would mean, along with Giroud we’d have three strikers. Eto’o could make it four and that would seriously bolster our attacking options, allowing us to rotate players in different competitions and prepare for the injury crisis we will inevitably suffer.
But, he shouldn’t be signed instead of either Morata or Remy. If that’s the case and we can only bring in two of the three, we shouldn’t bother with Eto’o, he’s not quite that important.
It is of course highly unlikely that Arsène would bring in all three. To be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t be surprising if we only signed one of them. But the acquisition of all three would certainly set us up nicely for next season.