Mourinho is still animated about what he regards as the biggest coup of the year, Inter’s acquisition of Samuel Eto’o, along with 46 million euros, in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Never mind Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Madrid, let’s consider that a stratospheric aberration. It is much too soon to settle the winner of this move and only time will reveal whose calculation proved to be savvier, but there is something in Barcelona’s estimation that is puzzling.
Eto’o was marked for the 2008 clear-out that saw Ronaldinho, Deco, Motta, Emerson, Beletti and several others go at bargain rates, but his teammates appealed strongly to Barca’s then new manager Guardiola and Technical Director Beguiristain that he should be kept. When Barca played an exhibition match in New York in August 2008, with his status up in the air, Eto’o was applauded heartily by the public and his blistering play during the entire pre-season made it virtually impossible for Guardiola to set him aside. Wise move. Barcelona completed an extraordinary season not only winning everything in play but doing so with such style that opposing teams were reduced to awe and admiration.
Despite this, Barca’s management and Guardiola started talking once again about moving Eto’o this summer. The question is why. He couldn’t have given more to the club. Why make him feel unwanted, again, after he just performed fantastically for the club’s historic season? His play is not disputable. Eto’o is in great shape, still in the prime of his career, his burst intact, his movement intelligent. Why move him? Whatever reservations Guardiola may have had about Eto’o’s personality seems to have been seriously overestimated.
Mourinho is brimming with joy and telling anyone who will listen that Eto’o is the best #9 in the world. He has a case. Eto’o scored more than 100 goals in his five years in Barcelona, none more important than the one in Rome against Manchester United in May of 2009. More importantly, after playing alongside Xavi, Ronaldinho, Iniesta, Messi, Deco, Henry etc within the spectacular Barcelona system of total football and clinical possession, the Cameroonian developed into more than a fierce goal-scorer. His vision and passing complement his knack for the goal to make him a complete player.
On the other side, Ibra must be regarded by Barcelona as a unique physical specimen that warranted such a huge investment. Barcelona has bet heavily that its system will eventually turn Ibra into something truly extraordinary: a fearsome, nearly impossible to defend scoring machine with the physical frame to clear up spaces for the diminutive geniuses around him – Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. We shall see. The greatest concern about Ibra remains his eccentric personality. Despite the club’s and his personal success on the field, Ibra was not the life of the party either with the fans or his teammates. Barcelona surely was aware of this and decided that integrating Ibra into its system would be manageable.
Inter was in dire need for an injection of energy and moving Ibra made a lot of sense. At the outset, the swap with Barca appears to be a masterstroke of genius and luck. Barca vastly underestimated Inter’s commitment to let Ibra go. When the size of the sum Barca paid is factored in, Inter appear to have been gifted a fortune. Of course, if Eto’o loses his nerve and his game, and if Ibra develops into the unstoppable machine Barcelona envisions, the story will be revised. For now, after a long history of overpaying for underachieving starlets, Inter has capitalized effectively on Ibra.
