Eto'o: "I already made a decision on my future"

Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o gave an interview to French sports site Sportweek.





When invited by Sportweek to put together an ideal team that didn't include French players, French national team coach Raymond Domenech chose you as centre forward, together with Wayne Rooney. Does that kind of recognition means something to you?
It's of course a great honour if someone like Raymond Domenech, who knows the game of football and what he's talking about, names me in that kind of things. It's an enormous recognition but I don't conclude from that that I'm the best striker in the world. I'm Samuel Eto'o and each day that goes by, I do everything to reach the highest possible. That's all.

You sometimes say that France and Cameroon have a similar place in your heart. Where does this love for France come from?
Where I live, in Cameroon, France is considered an ideal place. There's more, when a player leaves the country for example to go and play in Italy, people say that he leaves "for France". As if France and Europe are the same thing. The language of course plays an important part in this. As I'm concerned, France even means a little more.

Explain that to us...
I arrived in France when I was an adolescent. I participated in a youth tournament in Avignon and I took advantage of it to join an aunt who lived in the Paris region. I stayed a few months with her, in Bobigny.

That was a happy period in your life?
Not really. I didn't have the right documents. I couldn't live and move freely. And football, that meant everything to me, didn't bring me anything good either. I tried to present myself at a draft organised by Paris Saint-Germain, but since I didn't have documents, I was refused at the gate. I was also refused by le Havre and I think I also went to Cannes, but it didn't work out. After nine months, I returned to Cameroon.

You blame France that they didn't received you well?
How could I blame France? I didn't have documents. There are rules in France and they are made to be respected. No, honestly, I don't have any regrets. If my fate would have turned in another direction then, I maybe would have become a Frenchman, and I maybe would have played in the team of Raymond Domenech. Or maybe not.

From the team of Barcelona, people first think about Leo Messi or, over the last years, Ronaldinho. You feel underestimated in France?
I don't think so. And even if that would be the case, that in fact would be a good thing. I spend a lot of time in Paris, I have an apartment there, I have family there and my wife and my children lived there for quite a while before they joined me in Barcelona... In Paris, I can breathe normally. I can walk on the streets without being recognized the whole time. In Barcelona, that's impossible.

You plan to end your career with a French club?
I've already said that if that would be the case, I would like to play at Olympique Marseille. But I don't think it will happen. In contrast, I wish to end my career at Mallorca, where everything started for me. It's there where I launched my career and where I took one of the most important decisions in my life. After having gained some fame there, I could choose between going to England, to Italy, returning to Real Madrid or joining Barcelona. I didn't make a mistake. But I didn't only make excellent decisions in my life...

What's the baddest decision you've ever made?
That has to do with my private life.

Your contract with Barcelona expires in 2010. Are you on the verge of taking a difficult decision: staying with Barça or leaving the club, maybe this year already?
No, that's easy. I actually already made my decision. But I cannot tell anything at this moment.

In general, when one talks like this in February, that's because there's already a deal on a transfer...
That's what you say.

Could Karim Benzema join Barcelona next season to, who knows, replace you?
Benzema is one of those players who can play at every club in the world. So why not Barça? But we also could play together...


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the second part of the interview here in the coming days, with Eto'o talking -among other things- about Olympique Lyon, the next oppnent in the Champiosn League, and about his mobile phone collection.


Read more:
Eto'o wants to negotiate renewal in the summer
Benzema not a transfer target anymore
Eto'o: "Every goal gives you more confidence"