By Chris Wright
The British student hired to teach Samuel Eto’o to speak Russian during his Anzhi Makhachkala has admitted that she spent months home-schooling the striker without having a single clue who he was or what he did for a living.
Rebecca Prew, a 23-year-old Russian and French graduate from Leeds University, was brought in to help Eto’o learn the basics of the Russian language during his second year at Anzhi in 2012.
However, shock horror, it turned out that this particular multi-millionaire professional footballer didn’t prove to be the most voracious learner in the world – not that his tutor had the foggiest idea she had been tasked with teaching one of the most famous players on the planet.
“I had no idea who he was, which I think got me the job. They said they wanted someone who could teach him without being awestruck,” Prew recalled while telling her tale to Le Buzz.
“Everything in his apartment was designer, and he often spoke about the yacht parties he’d been on with his team mates.
“He’d pay me in cash from a money holder that was bursting with 500, 100 and 50 euro notes.
“As a student, he was absolutely rubbish. He had a terrible attention span. The football was typically always on in the background.
“He struck me as quite youthful, and very keen to learn even if he didn’t have the best attention span.
“They gave me his personal e-mail address so I could send him homework to do.
“When I arrived for lessons he’d often have his finished homework in front of him, with a big smile on his face like a happy kid.”
Sounds like a bloody nightmare! Bring back the cane, that’s what we say.