Gracias, Samu!
By: Isaiah | July 27th, 2009Samuel Eto’o, one of the great strikers of his generation, is moving to pastures new after 5 seasons in which he scored 130 goals in 200 appearances. Our indomitable lion has scored more goals than all but two players in the history of FC Barcelona (and Rivaldo, with whom he is tied) and scored a goal in each of the Champions League finals he reached.
There is much to say about Samu, our fierce and crazy striker, who has produced more goals in the league (108) than anyone since Ladislao Kubala finished his run with the club in 1961. He was on pace to move past Kubala in league scoring (131) in the coming year and, given a couple more years, might even have moved close to Cesar Rodriguez (196). Beyond the statistics, of course, there was his smile and his spirit, both on display in equal measure.
It was the crazy celebrations when he scored, the runs to the corner flag, the gleeful looks, the salutes with Henry in recent seasons, the vein slapping in Rome, the hand waving, the hard stares, the shushing–all of that was Samu. His fierce defense, his non-stop running, his occasional brilliant move, his knowledge of space and timing–all of that was Samu. His cars and watches, his hats and shirts, his bold statements to the press, his flirtations with leaving, his wage demands–all of that was Samu.
And in the end, he will always have a special place in the hearts of cules everywhere for giving them a show, for working hard day-in and day-out, for being where he should have been for those simple tap-ins, for the thunder strikes that somehow went in. He was always a professional and for these last four years, he has been our professional, our hard worker, our indomitable spirit.
Adios, leon. Let’s let The Plain White T’s play you off:
But this is the enduring image I will retain of Eto’o:
Category: Transfers/Transfer Rumors
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Hleb is good. Few can perform right away at barca’s level. Given time, Hleb will redeem himself. Besides, barca is paying his salary, you guys got a very very veeeery good deal. Buy VdV, sneijder or rossi, and you will not miss Ibra. You have 45-50mil to splash!
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United States
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fcbfan Pedro was part of the first team last year, and he was very good, there were many teams asking for loaning him this summer. but as a Messi sub I believe Iniesta is the most suitable right now, but let’s see how much more playing time will improve Pedro.
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Charlie, I think any Inter fan would be OVERJOYED with Sneijder. We tried to get him earlier this summer but were told he was the only Dutch player not for sale. I keep waiting for the Real Madrid fire sale I hear is coming.
Muhammad: I have no idea. If Moratti cant unload some deadwood, then I fear we get no one. Moratti wants to be all fiscally responsible and pay down debt (Mr. Buzzkill). Inter desperately need a creative midfielder and, judging from the responses here, Hleb is not going to do it. Great.
So Hleb is a player who cannot adapt and tends to get broken, but may work hard so that Barca will bring him back to the fold. Wow. I like him already (insert sarcasm emoticon).
As for the article, I sort of thought it was more snarky than insightful, but what do I know from La Liga. Good to see that you all didn’t steal the heart of one of my very favorite players for a lark. I am still trying to convince myself that, in the long run, this will be better for Inter, but it just feels like I am whistling past the cemetery (as it were).
At least I will be spared seeing Zlatan in a Barca shirt next week when they come to Seattle. It is faaaaaar too soon for that. I still want to throw myself around his legs and weep piteously whilst howling “why.” Not a pretty sight.
On the up side, Eto’o seems like a nice guy. I like nice guys. Bonus.
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@Johonna
Regarding the article about thanking Perez for getting ibra…
“With the amount of money Laporta is prepared to spend on ‘Ibra’, one has to wonder, why not Kun Aguero?”
When you read this kind of remarks in any article, its more than enough for you to decide not to take that article seriously. I can say with clear conscious that the article writer 1) either has no idea about football. or 2) Never watched Barcelona before their game against Man utd. Or 3) is talking about Another Barcelona team (I think there is one in Ecuador if I am not wrong) But certainly not this Barcelona.
We talked about the Ibra factor in our articles and discussions since a while. I actualy demanded buying him last summer and was posting my wishfull thinking about that impossible target since long enough.
Regarding the transfer case:
a) Ibra was a need for this club. A must buy over any other transfer option. An added value that worth the risk of change, though change is always something people resist.
b) Last season Barcelona kept eto’o because they didn’t find a team to sell him to. Eto’o didn’t find a club to offer him the contract he want, and the replacements turned to be too expensive. If you keep in mind that our main target was Adebayor (or however you spell his name), you can link the facts and ask the question: Who will be the main transfer target for Barcelona this season? someone tall. Skillful, specially when it come to passing the ball around(barcelona style), can open to the flanks (so henry or Messi get succked into the opponent box through the black whole created by the striker move). and someone who add the aerial threat. his name mast start by ibra and end “vic”. And it has nothing to do with Mad-ride transfers.
b) If it wasnt of Perez, we would have been able to buy Ibra for around 75% of the money we paid. So I cant say we are grateful for the inflation he caused in the transfer market. raising Ibra price from 50 M to the price we ended up paying.
c)Financially, the deal was smart. what makes it look expensive is that Inter-related media want to make it look like a great bargain for inter to cover losing Ibra, and Real Madrid media want to make it look expensive just to make the Madrid transfers look more reasonable (or at least less stupid). Eto’o for many reasons is not the striker for Barcelona future, even though he will always be mentioned as one of the greats in Barcelona history. There were two reasonable transfers available to replace him : 1) Villa for more than 50 M where Eto’o will not go to valencia for sure. So we will have to give him few millions as well and terminate his contract or else keeping him as a ticking bomb in the dressing room. Or ibra, whom we paid 45 M to get, plus eto’o. and no matter how you evaluate eto’o, he is not (NOT) a 25 M man. Keeping his contract conditions in mind. because in the opposite extreme I can say that paying 45 M to get ibra and keeping eto’o is more expensive than 45 M plus eto’o. because if we keep eto’o we will have to pay his salary for one more year though he will not be needed and (again) he will be an unsatisfied player in the dressing room. So, this deal (from barcelona perspective) brought us Ibra (a need) for 45 M and solved the Eto’o case without costing the club any money.For inter, it was a bargain as well. Ibra wanted to leave. So at least they got a quality striker within his transfer deal plus 45 M which is a good transfer as well. So Eto’o part of the deal is more like putting the right pieces of the puzzle in place. He is an expensive case for barcelona to solve, and expensive target for Inter to buy. The swap saved Barcelona from paying to solve, and saved Inter from paying to get.
As for including hleb in the deal, it goes this way:
As if we are paying Inter for ibra a 45 M plus additional amount based on performance. We pay a part of hleb salary for next season. then we sell him for around 10 m (either to Inter or to any other club if we don’t need him any more). If you make a Heb T Leger, putting the money paid and the money earned next summer, Barcelona will be getting some millions earnings (without putting Hleb buying price last summer in the Leger), or you can say earning back some millions of the money barcelona paid to buy hleb last summer. If its 4 millions plus, then Hleb cost will go down to 11 millions.
Which makes Ibra transfer costs Barcelona 45 M + Hleb net Value + solving the eto’o case= something around 65 M.
Thats why the moment Vila transfer negotiations touched the 55 M value, barcelona jumped for ibra. Because as mentioned above getting Villa and solving eto’o situation (keeping or sorting out his contract termination) would have cost as much as getting ibra. Though, even if ibra transfer would cost 10 m more, pep will prefer that one over villa, and i agree with him.
I label this transfer as the perfect transfer where two clubs make a deal that is sued to match their exact needs and generate identical values of benefits for both sides.
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Muhammad: oh I should have thought of Iniesta Sevilla game. you are right. I hope Pedro gets more chance this season though.
Would be fantastic if Messi can play Iniesta’s spot in midfield when Iniesta can’t play there.
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if Henry is going to slot more in the middle this season he will truly be the happiest man in the world.
I think Ibrahimovic addition to the team is priceless, last season we had to bring in tired and semi-injured Messi from the subs to save us in the last minutes in away games after the international break. now we have two players to depend upon to do that. if you watched Inter last season regularly, you’d have not made a stupid statement like “why not Aguero”. no matter how badly Inter played Ibrahimovic was their to save them, similar to what Messi did to us. now we have them both.Posted from
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As for Hleb, I believe he has the “it” to be a great success at inter. In fact I think he is the healing pill for the tactical deficiency Inter had for the following few seasons. A player who can link midfield with offense. Thats where Hleb can Helb.
If you are excited to predict how many goals he will score with Inter, dont be. The answer is certainly something around…hm….Zero.
But I recommend that you start counting his assists, and his second to last passes.
How Hleb can Helb:
1) A bridge between midfield and offense as mentioned above.
2) His ability to contain the ball and keep it till inter transmit from defense status to offense status. This was actually one of his defects for Barcelona, a team that play high defense. Inter played deep. So when you earn back the ball you need a station, a closet, to seal the ball in at the midfield till your lads reposition themselves forward. Ibra was not a closet, but more a tank. He get the ball and run toward the opponent aria while his teammates try to catch the train upfront. With hleb this may change. He will swallow the ball and is welling to take a nap till the perfect moment come, then passing the ball to maicon on the flank, or to Milito/eto’o upfront of faxing it to the edge of the box for your bombers to blast a shot.
3) He will enhance the ball distribution quality for inter. He obviously wasn’t able to enhance that at Barcelona where we have Iniesta and Xavi. But with inter it will be a notable upgrade.
4)one of his problems in Spain was the ball movement pace. In Italy the tempo is little bit slower (not necessarily a bad thing), but it match his taste more.
5) Another problem he had with barcelona was his defensive contribution. its vital at barcelona that every player need to do the high pressure game. With your Physically loaded arsenal of players, his defensive contribution will not be as vital.
6) barcelona is a more demanding place than Inter. I believe he will have more time there to earn confidence and adapt. we at Barcelona lack patience. And for a Play maker, it needs more time to dissolve in the team chemistry than for any player playing in another position. because that kind of understanding is vital for him to pull all the strings together, then orchestrating the performance.
As we always say, every transfer is a risk. But the guy has more potentials than the place people put him in at the moment. and for having him for loan as a trial before buying, i say you have no reason to complain.
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Damn! Ramzi. way to break it down.
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Ramzi. You Rock! Can I quote you? Or at least paraphrase?
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Ramzi but Hleb isn’t strong physically enough to do that for Inter, specially in Italy, I think even mediocre players like Sammarco in Italy will give Hleb hard time trying to keep the ball against him, as you know, Italy has a lower pace but a very tough approach to the game than in Spain where referees are happy to whistle for every weak push. I doubt Hleb will fit into any formation for Inter next season, in 4-3-3 Stankovic is stronger and contributes more in defense, since Hleb’s contribution to defense as you say is 0. in 4-2-2 Hleb as a wing will only succeed if the movement of his team mates are fast, and looking at Inter’s squad I doubt that will happen. maybe now that Ibrahimovic is gone their wingers will become the players they were hyped to be, maybe that will help them be a faster team, but with Cambiasso and Viera in the middle, Hleb is going to need to work two times as much as he did with us.
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I wonder why Inter hasn’t tried to sign that Fiorentina attacking midfielder so far, Javotic? the guy is class and he can do exactly what Ramzi is suggesting that Hleb will provide Inter with. he is a better distributor too. and physically stronger.
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Johonna, feel free. Comments here are public property.
Muhammad, if Hleb (Physically) had no problem with the EPL tanks, he will not have it in Italy. I wouldn’t consider Pirlo, Del piero, Or even Cassano as being physically supernatural as well. And its not a bad thing to earn your teams some fouls around the opponent’s box.
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true none of the three are strong physically but none of them is asked to keep the ball long enough for their team mates to support them, Pirlo is more of a distributor of passes to players who are in more advanced positions.
Del Piero plays behind the strikers, and his shooting and assisting abilities are far better than Hleb in that role.
there are shorter and weaker players like Di Vaio who are good, but they aren’t asked to do what you say Hleb is going to provide Inter with. not with the very slow Inter team. Arsenal was a different story, constant fast movement in all directions gave Hleb many options to pass to, I can’t see how is that possible with Inter.Posted from
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After all our bitching and moaning this season, I’m really sad to see Samu go. Really emotional.
Lets hope Ibra steps in fast.
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Good bye Eto…and thank you…
Dont know much ,but for me Ibra is way too much expensive…Since when is Ibra much better than Eto in order to pay 45million+???
I supose a simple swap EtoIbra with no money involved was fair enough…I think Inter did “the business” of their life with this one…
So:please someone explain to me ,in a few words,why the hell did Barca paid 45million+Eto for this guy???????
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Paul: just scroll up and read all the comments.
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Paul: Etoo was discontent here in Barca, for his own reasons. Next year he would have walked away for free. Ibra was wanted by Pep. We got him for 45m. And instead of thinking that we swapped Etoo for Ibra, think Etoo walked for free. Still we got a good deal for a player who was quoted to be on the north of 70m.
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i will post the comment that i wrote in that “stupid article of the year” at soccerlens, just for my emotional satisfaction:
barca NEED ibra.
the only sore point about the last season for my beloved was the chelsea match – where the blues were able to park a bus successfully. This does not mean other teams did not park their trains, but chelsea did it in the most professional(?) and a world-class way. We did not have a pile-driver shooter, a header-supreme in the team to beat those barrage of blue bodies. Now we have them. In one person. PERIOD. If additionally, we are getting a galactico image and increased revenue from our shirt sales, are we going to say NO? We are not that stupid. We see our NEEDS, make our calculations and then open our mouth. Not the other way! End of the day, we got Ibra + Maxwell – dressing room problems = 50m cash. Makes sense to you? I doubt! (this was meant for the author, so socis please dont mistake me!)Posted from
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Gracias por todo Samu.
Still waiting for that Ibra post. Let’s welcome him guys!
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I heard this from another cule:
“According to MD the Zlatan presentation was held up last night because Etoo made a last minute demand for a payoff from the club. The club had no choice but to relent and give the Cameroonian what he wanted, in all likelihood the 5m€ that had been talked about throughout the negotiations period. Once the club had inserted a clause intol the contract entitling Etoo to the money the papers were signed at the other end and everything was able to proceed.”
This was in the paper edition of MD not the online one. It’s from a very trustable cule.About the soccerlens article I feel Ramzi addresses it best: “When you read this kind of remarks in any article, its more than enough for you to decide not to take that article seriously”
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thanks for the answers…
Yes indeed…Eto could have walked for free next year,but we could also make him a new contract and sell after,I guess…
We got Ibra for 45mil+Eto+salary of Hleb.So Ibra it’s not only 45mil…
Is it Ibra much much beter than Eto in order to worth 45mil + Eto????…I dont think it was such a good deal…
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Thank you for everything you have done for this club, Samu.
Posted from
Denmark -
Thank you for everything you have done for this club, Samu.
I hope you succeed in MilanPosted from
Denmark -
Paul: That is a nice idea, but Eto’o didn’t want to sign a new contract! It was his way of holding the club ransom, so why would he sign a new one?
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One more time, reasons why I liked Eto’o as a striker… All skill sets are there for all to see…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnV-sQ8at6Y
Posted from
United States
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