Thursday, February 15, 2007

Eto'o's ego got the better of him

Buddies again: Ronaldinha hugs Eto’o (back to camera) during Barcelona’s training session on Wednesday. The two had been caught in a war of words since Sunday. –Photo:Reuters

The Cameroon striker and Barcelona player Sameul Eto'o has created a row by blasting both his manager Frank Rijkaard and team-mate Ronaldhino and has revealed he would love to play for Arsenal.

After coming back from a 4 month knee injury, Eto'o was seen warming up but refused to come on when he was asked to do so with 5 minutes of play remaining in Sunday's match.

Eto'o, the top scorer in Spain last season, said: "I don't have to give any explanations to anyone. I will only give an explanation to the club if they ask me to."

Eto'o is sending the wrong message to many youngsters who may aspire to emulate his success. He owes an expalnation to his manager and since he is part of a team, he also has an obligation to his team mates.

In an attempt to close ranks, Barcelona haven’t punished Eto’o and the club is hoping that with the exchange of public hugs, the damaging rift has been diffused.

The top football clubs in the world are multi million dollar businesses and players face enormous competive pressure. Highly paid football agents scout for fresh talent and arrange to move players among clubs making the transfer market a lucrative industry.

With Eto'o publicly expressing discontent some of the super rich clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool may already be working to strike a deal with Barcelona n Eto'o.

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