Saturday, September 14, 2013
Eto'o: I used to HATE Mourinho... now he's my coach at Chelsea - and a good friend
New Chelsea centre forward Samuel Eto'o has revealed he hated Jose Mourinho before working alongside him at Inter Milan.
While Eto'o was at Barcelona the Catalan club had many run ins with Mourinho in his first spell at Stamford Bridge and the striker admitted he said he would never play for the Portuguese.
However, when they joined forces at Inter Milan in 2009-2010 the Italian side won the Treble and the 32-year-old's opinion of Mourinho changed markedly.
'Before meeting at Inter, we didn't know each other personally, so our relationship was tense,' Eto'o told The Sun. 'I even said one time that I'd never play for a club where Jose was coach.
'But God knows best. He wanted to show me that I was wrong and today Jose is a friend. Now he's my coach again.'
Eto'o arrived at Chelsea for £7million from Anzhi Makhachkala at the end of the transfer window following the club's failed summer-long pursuit of Wayne Rooney.
The Cameroonian has occasionally been accused of being a problematic influence, which contributed to his departure from Barcelona in 2009 but under Mourinho at Inter his commitment was unwavering as he often played out of position, wide on the right.
Eto'o also revealed that he was strongly linked with Chelsea in 2006, before Andriy Shevchenko was eventually signed for £30m.
While Eto'o was at Barcelona the Catalan club had many run ins with Mourinho in his first spell at Stamford Bridge and the striker admitted he said he would never play for the Portuguese.
However, when they joined forces at Inter Milan in 2009-2010 the Italian side won the Treble and the 32-year-old's opinion of Mourinho changed markedly.
'Before meeting at Inter, we didn't know each other personally, so our relationship was tense,' Eto'o told The Sun. 'I even said one time that I'd never play for a club where Jose was coach.
'But God knows best. He wanted to show me that I was wrong and today Jose is a friend. Now he's my coach again.'
Eto'o arrived at Chelsea for £7million from Anzhi Makhachkala at the end of the transfer window following the club's failed summer-long pursuit of Wayne Rooney.
The Cameroonian has occasionally been accused of being a problematic influence, which contributed to his departure from Barcelona in 2009 but under Mourinho at Inter his commitment was unwavering as he often played out of position, wide on the right.
Eto'o also revealed that he was strongly linked with Chelsea in 2006, before Andriy Shevchenko was eventually signed for £30m.
