Reports this morning suggest that Rafa may be ready to look at bringing Samuel Eto’o from Barcelona to Liverpool this summer. This is not a far fetched story as Eto’o is stalling on signing a new contract at Barca and Barca would want to sell him this summer if he refuses to sign, than wait for him to leave for free in 2010. There will be no shortage of takers if Barca decide to sell Eto’o. Your Milan teams will want him and so to Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Just the name Eto’o is big and having a signing like him would be great for Liverpool. But as is the situation with us, we may not be able to afford him. The reports say Barca could want about 20 million pounds for him but I think they would actually want more especially if it turns into a bidding war between the teams. But for me my biggest concern is; how would Eto’o fit into our current system at Liverpool?
For me, Eto’o is an out and out striker like Torres. If we played with two strikers upfront then a Torres – Eto’o partnership would be the perfect match. But we have seen that Rafa likes to use the Torres – Gerrard combination and it is working well. I am not sure how we would be able to accommodate Gerrard, Torres and Eto’o in the same starting lineup.
It would have to mean that Gerrard would have to drop deeper into midfield or be pushed out wide and that would be a disaster as he has now finally found his best position which is just off the front man.
In the perfect world it would be great to have a player like Eto’o in reserve for when Torres gets injured but I can not see Eto’o willing to sit on the bench. Another option I had thought of was maybe playing Eto’o in an advanced role on the right in place of Kuyt. But then again, you would not be getting the most out of Eto’o. The guy needs to be in the box where he is lethal.
Food for thought! What do you think of Eto’o at Liverpool and would he fit in?
