Samuel Eto Biography

At age 26, already being a star footballer, Eto is considered by many as being the greatest ever soccer player from Cameroon at the end of his career. But, since that point in his life is still around 10 years away, let's focus on his earlier professional life, in this Samuel Eto biography.

Samuel Eto Biography – Real Madrid
It will probably be surprising for many to know this, but Samuel Eto actually started his career at his current team's arch-rivals, Real Madrid, who have the merit of discovering the talented player at the Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon.

Joining the youth team of Real at only 15 years of age, in 1996, he only spent 1 year at the club, being loaned to second division's CD Leganes in the 1997-1998. Returning to Real, he was taken on the first team when being only 17 years old, however he had a frustrating season, being given the chance to play for the Santiago Bernabeu side in only 3 games and even those, as a late substitute.

Clearly unhappy with his role there, Samuel Etoo was happy when he found out he will be loaned again, this time to a more powerful team, namely Real Mallorca.

Samuel Eto Biography – Real Mallorca
Despite not playing regularly in his first season loaned to Mallorca, Samuel Eto started to become a frequent first squad player in the 2000-2001 season, his second with the club.

Scoring 11 goals throughout the season, Samuel Eto already started to shine and brought the praise of his club's fans and chairman, the latter declaring that he "doubts there is any other player in the World to please our fans more than Samuel Etoo". This convinced the club's owners to fully buy the footballer, Eto being signed for what was then a club record fee of 5.5 million euros.

In the following three seasons spent at Mallorca, Eto managed to become the most prolific striker in the club's history, with a total tally of 54 goals. It was this year, 2003, that Samuel Etoo would receive the African Player of the Year award for the first time, an award which he would eventually win two more times, in 2004 and 2005.

Although he had already won the club's supporters from his first season there, Samuel Eto gained almost a God-like status in his last 2 seasons for Mallorca. He didn't let his fans appreciation go unnoticed though, as he would often "return the favor" by paying for some of the supporter's transportation on away matches, culminating with offering them a 30,000 euro meal for the supporters that followed the team to the Spanish Cup final against Huelva.

Unfortunately his excellent relationship with the Mallorca fans would soon come to an end, as the summer of 2004 brought the highly anticipated transfer of Samuel Etoo to FC Barcelona.

Samuel Eto Biography

Samuel Eto Biography – FC Barcelona
At Barcelona, Eto found a team comprising of two types of players: long standing Barcelona players such as Xavi, Carles Puyol or Valdez on one hand and newcomers Ludovic Giuly, Deco, Henrik Larsson or Ronaldinho on the other. The newcomers, which included Etoo, had to adapt quickly with the others, as the club's goal was, as usual, winning every competition it starts in.

It seems that adaptability is one of the footballer's greatest traits, as he fit in the blau-grana squad perfectly, scoring 24 league goals in his first season as well as 4 others in Champions League. His performance, coped with that of the other stars in Barcelona's starting lineup helped the club obtain the league title, although suffering an early elimination from Champions League.

At this point, the striker was craving for two more titles: the Champions League Cup and being the "Pichichi", or Top Goalscorer in the Spanish league.

In the following season, his dreams came through, as Barcelona had one of the most impressive runs in a while; winning the league for the second consecutive time, the Champions League in a memorable final against Arsenal and with Samuel Etoo winning the Pichichi title with 26 goals, 1 more than his Valencia rival, David Villa.

Although he recently suffered a series of injuries that might have ended the career of any other footballer, Eto showed that he is still trophy-hungry as he came back on the pitch, although losing some of his efficiency due to the long time spent away from the grass. Still, he is expected to get back on top form in 2007 and lead Barcelona to another title.