Samuel Eto’o to Inter, Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona. Who’d get the better deal?

Ollie Irish

18th, July 2009

19 Comments

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Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o and Inter’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic are set to trade places, presumably because there is no dressing room in the world that could contain their twin egos.


If the deal comes off - I’d say it’s 80% likely – then which club would be the stronger as a result?
Personally, I think Barcelona would be better off keeping Samuel Eto’o. The Cameroonian may be a difficult man to work with, but he sure does the job on the pitch; whereas buying the equally mercurial Zlatan is a definite risk for Pep Guardiola. How would Zlatan dovetail with Messi and Henry? He might do brilliantly, as Eto’o has in the last few seasons, but I’d guess instead that he fails to shine, or does so intermittently.
That’s my take. What do you think? Leave a comment or vote below:

Posted in Barcelona, La Liga, Serie A, Transfers & Rumours

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19 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    I think ibramovic and eto’o will both flop at there new clubs. They do not fit the style.

  2. theo says:

    The two striker are really good, and really leathal. barca will have trouble fitting ibra in the squad – barca already has those players with great dribbling technics which ibra is good at too. And ontop of it ibra is also a great scorer, he can score w/o perfect playmaker as iniesta, messy, xavi and others. But here is the question, How will ibra style fit with his partners? is that the kind of player barca need? or someone like etoo who just let playmakers do their job, and then he just executes? that will be a hard one. On the flip side, etoo is a prolific attacker, and with good midfielders his style will just boom just like it did with barca. now having etoo in inter will be tricky but will most likely work out good for the team. murinho loves that kid, and he has coach chelsea with drogba(hard headed player) and made drogba pertinant in the attack line. etoo has a really simple game style, and add to it the nets lover he is, inter will do really good. dont forget positioning is what etoo does best, and dont say his goals are just taps in becoz it doesnt matter. its all about who scored and not how who scored.guardiola cant be judge as a good coach right now, give him a secon season. he picked up a good team left by rijkard.
    for 5yrs, etoo has been consistant. its hard to find a striker that ability i will think. and he seems not to slow down. an averge of almost 25 goals a season is not a piece of cake. DO NOT CALL ETOO GREED, GREED IS WHOEVER IN HIS POSITION WILL ACCEPT 250K A WEEK FROM CITY. don’t blame his personality, thoz 2 things he has between his legs is what making him.
    INTER HAS A BETTER DEAL OVER BARCA

  3. jonathan says:

    To be fair to Ibrahimovic, I think the last time he didn’t play in a team which won the national title was in 2003… He’s pretty worthless when it comes to the Champion’s league, perhaps, but he’ll likely do fairly well in primera division… of course, mourinho might do the “unpossible” and get eto’o to be brilliant. So regardless, I think inter made the better deal, since there was quite a bit of money involved too… but I guess only time will tell.

  4. Bonga says:

    I am glad that he is leavin barca at last. Pep see his as an opportunity to play bojan. Thank you Mr Etoo for the two champs league.

  5. wllmhll says:

    if its a straight swap then barcelona might have the better deal here as etoo is nearing the end of his contract. plus, with the squad they have in barca ibrahimovic might at last shine as bright as expected.

  6. machine goooner funk says:

    as a squad that is usually shrewd and intelligent when it comes to transfer dealings i am baffled by barsc’s move here. make no mistake i hate these catalan cunts for poaching our skipper and my favorite player of all time th14 (and now trying to take our current captain and my favorite gunner cesc, fucking catalan CUNTS) but i digress. paying 4o million euros and giving thehleb on loan for a year to get a player who pads his goal stats against the like of parma, sampdoria, lecce, and atalanta but disappears when they play milan, roma, and juventus as well as ghosting his way through CL matches is a head scratcher. firstly, eto’o is a better finisher, has more pace, always seems to be in the right place (b/c of his superb positioning and understanding of the game, something ibrahimovic lacks), and is an exponentially better passer. the only thing ibra does better are his skills on the ball and the gap btwn the two isnt that great. i personally think eto’o is the supremely more talented player yet he’s the one who’s not garnering the tranfer fee and has a player coming with him to sweeten the deal. eto’o will light it up in serie a where the defenses are slower than all the top flight leagues and barca get a player who shrinks in big games, is sorta lumbering, and doesn’t fit their style of play in general. for inter to get 40 mil, eto’o, and hleb on loan for a year is a tidy piece of business on par with highway robbery and most confusing of all barca seemed to just drop their pants bend over and give it up. now with eto’o, muntari, hleb, and the squad they already have they will certainly win the scudetto, possibly with ease, and will be a force to reckon with in europe. i just cant get over how barcelona could have ibra valued that high

  7. i think u’v lost ur mind with lack of titles to celebrate mr machine gooner. Cesc belongs to barca deep in his heart but Wenger used his freaky pull on kids to lure him away frm camp nou, and as for ur beloved henry u should be happy that he was given the chance to go and win what he couldnt at arsenal. Less of the Catalan C**** please just because ur bitter

  8. Spenser says:

    I’m an inter fan, and i’ll miss zlatan, and it sucks because i’ve never liked eto’o that much. i even have an inter kit with ibra’s name on it, which is also annoying.
    i think barca will be even stronger, as much as i hate to say it.

  9. Anonymous says:

    zlatan can play excellent football with any great team in europe…simply because he is the greatest striker today…..he would be an excellant fit for barca and eto a great fit in inter….MAKE THE TRADE and both teams will have success

  10. Benhameen says:

    I think Ibrahimovic is one of the most talented players in the world today, but I wonder if he is what Barcelona need. He was THE man at Inter, their best player. Like Henry was before he made the swap to the Nou Camp. And although Henry is still undoubtedly a top-class player he seems to have lost the flair and skill that he had at Arsenal. I just wonder if Ibra will struggle in the same way. Another thing is that Ibra doesnt play as a lone striker he likes to create as much as he likes to score, and so I think he won’t be anything like as prolific as Eto was but he will still create more goals than Eto could ever do. Therefore the success lies in the weigh-off between these two factors.

  11. Omar says:

    I am a Barca fan, and I have to say I am definitely sad to see Sammy go. One of the most important things Barca will miss with Eto’o game is his pace and the pressure he puts on opposing defense in their half. I’m not too worried because as far as talent goes, the two are very close and both are world class. I just hope Ibra can play the 1-2 with Messi the way Sammy did. Unfortunately I think Inter has the better deal on this one with Eto’o, Hleb (who is pretty worthless), and the money. In addition, Bojan will not be getting off the bench anymore than he did last year, he still needs a little more development time.

  12. mo says:

    Inter, purely for the money they get as well

  13. cyril says:

    62 millions on the top of the free transfer of Eto’o…. Barça is just crazy. If Ibra’s valuation is about 92 millions, Eto’o valuation should be the same. They have the same age – 27 for Ibra, 28 for Eto’o… But the last 5 years Eto’o scored 107 goals in 144 games and Ibra 80 goals in 158. Eto’o scored more than 2 goals in 3 games. It’s just insane! Even if Ibra scored an average of 1 goal in 2 games, it’s much less than Eto’o.
    So I definitely don’t understand this deal valuating eto’o 3 times less than Ibra… Sorry but Barca get a fuked up deal!

  14. Ariel says:

    Both teams will have to change their tactical approach and mentality on the pitch: Internazionale used Ibrahimovic as a anchor man , a sort of pivot , for he likes to have the ball, dribble, slow down the game. Inter often played long passes , and Ibra’s tendency to hold up the ball gave the team time to come up.
    Barcelona , instead, like to play short passages, you can rarely see long balls, for it wouldn’t benefit players like messi, henry, iniesta, xavi, or even bojan.
    Ibrahimovic shall probably score more than few goals, anyway, but his primadonna tendencies on the pitch will most likely affect the choral action of the team, making it less smooth and enjoyable.
    As for Internazionale , they’ll have to play differently in order to activate eto’o and take advantage of his pace and finishing skills. A player like Sneijder could become vital.

  15. CEDRICK says:

    ALL THESE NOISE THAT WE ARE MAKING IS 4 WHAT??WHO IN THE WORLD DOESN’T KNOW EO’O IS BETTER THAN ZLATAN??YOU ARE COMPARING THE TWO PLAYERS IN WHICH WAY??IN SCORING GOALS OR WHAT??IF IS FOR GOAL SCORING THEN GO TO HELL ETO’O IS GOOD FOR THAT.I AM A BARCA FAN BUT HAVE DECIDED TO SWITCH TO INTER BECAUSE OF THAT STRIKER.

  16. GeneTinsley says:

    I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case, great info…I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!

  17. smarterthanmachinegooner says:

    Not only has zlatan had a blistering start to his barca career, but you morons are completely ignorant. Goes missing against Roma, Milan and Juve??? He has score many goals against Roma and milan, and has had several good matches against juve (although goaless). What planet are you weirdos from?? Do you just read bollocks posted by someone else and believe it? I have personally watched Zlatan score magnificant individual goals against milan and roma, and seen him tear juve apart. Just becase you dont score, doesnt mean you havent played well.

    Eto’o is a great finisher, but has nothing else to offer. Zlatan is a target man, a finisher, a provider, and scores plenty of individual goals.

    Machine gooner funk is a moron who knows nothing about football.

  18. Ojukwu says:

    Eto’o has the magic you need to win in a hghly profiled competition. I hate the craz abot Ibra when he doesnt give results. Any serious coach need to listen to the wishes of the fans as well. Barca keep Eto’o for the love of football and winning or loos him and count yourselves on the way to doom.

  19. Rolandinho says:

    I am a Man Utd fan and I think the craziest of transfers ever in the history of soccer is the eto’o ibra swap. Ibra is better on the ball and i don’t think that’s what barca need cuz they got messi,xavi,iniesta to provide the final passes.What they need is a finisher which eto’o is the best in that position. Remember…eto’o joined barca in 2004/2005 season and came from the bench to replace henrik larson..still he scored 24 league goals and did the UCL finals job done twice for barca.Which manager will let go a player who netted 30 league goals the previous season if not for …. Stoichkov wasn’t down for that swap but guardiola wouldn’t want sammy to beat the record of top goal scorrer in the history of FCB shirt….racist?hhhmm..uummm.i think rite huh!

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