A Cameroonian striker once mocked at his football debut in France is to become the world’s highest paid footballer it was revealed.

Samuel Eto’o is to earn £17.5 million a season after tax – the equivalent of one Euro per second. This will make him the highest paid footballer in the world, after being signed up by Suleiman Kerimov, the Russian oligarch billionaire oil tycoon and club-owner.

 

The Cameroon captain, Samuel Eto’o, three-time African Footballer of the Year,

was previously bullied and overlooked by Le Havre club in France, at the beginning of his football career. When asked during a recent interview with French television whether he would consider playing for a club in that country again, the straight-forward and outspoken star replied: “It is too late now because when I started to play abroad, one of my favourite countries was France but I was overlooked and frequently called illegal immigrant until I get spotted by Real of Madrid club in Spain. They gave me the opportunity to shape up my career.”

 

Some might see this attitude as typically French: always thinking too highly of themselves, too flashy, too mean, and (whisper it) too racist and xenophobic.

Overconfidence convinces them think they are the best in the world when, in fact, they still have everything to learn in many aspects of life. They are stubborn enough not to understand that fame, talent and dedication are universal gifts – a disregard for the rest of the world that has led to many countries now regarding them as the “Albatross”, a psychological burden that feels like a curse.

The metaphor also suggests stupidity and is a reference to the feathered giant bird with the longest wingspan carrying an emotional burden. Although it can cover enormous distances, gliding effortlessly and even spending several months in the air at a time without ever touching land, it remains vulnerable, clumsy and awkward when landing – often tripping over its own feet, and crashing and somersaulting to the ground.  To quote the French poet

Charles Baudelaire: “Its giant wings prevent him from walking.”

Of course, French football clubs were quickly back in the game, desperate to sign the focused and imperturbable Eto’o, after he finally found fame. The striker was playing for Barcelona at the time.

 

Despite being begged to join a French club in return for French nationality as a reward, he declined the offer, knowing he was being targeted for his fame and fortune.

 

It comes as little surprise that the French police stopped and searched the gifted player several times while on holiday in Paris for a control routine asking him to justify his source of income and his spectacular sport cars – and apparently pretending they did not recognise him. The indignity just made him laugh, as he calmly presented his Cameroonian  passport and job title.

 

The Financial Times recently misjudged Eto’o – branding him narcissist. The former Mallorca serial scorer is, in fact, a rather down-to-earth, dedicated and thankful person, and far from selfish or materialistic.  If you don’t let people step on your feet and manipulate your own life and career, this is not narcissism: in English it is called pride.

 

The prodigious striker is also known for his generosity: he once spent £900,000 on designer watches for his Cameroon colleagues to celebrated the team’s qualification for the South African World Cup Finals, by buying every member of the squad a £29,000 watch as a reward for helping secure their place in what was their sixth contest.

 

Speaking before an opening  match  Eto’o told the French television show Telefoot:

“Do you remember that watch I offer to Husain Bolt in the summer? If we qualify I will offer the same to my team-mates.”

Indeed, Eto’o has consistently used his income to incentivise his team-mates. Four years ago he paid them a total of £35,000 – nearly £1,200 each – after they defeated the Ivory Coast 3-2.

The footballer prodigy also recently paid a visit to the president of Gabon, Ali Bongo, and has contributed to the cost of building sites for the 2012 African Cup of Nations in Libreville and other cities.

The Cameroonian Post and Telecommunications Ministry recently reported that the football star had expressed his intent to invest in his country’s telecoms sector (a sensitive project, as it was reported to be one of the reasons why the West wanted Libyan president Colonel Gaddafi dead)…

 

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Rachel Tcheungna, Author, Writer of 

The Bridge Books and 

The Bridge Magazine Editor.