Turkish top-flight club Antalyaspor on Wednesday said it has dropped their star striker, Samuel Eto’o from their squad following a bitter row over his comments on social media. The Former Cameroon captain posted on his Instagram handle saying; “Perhaps some people do not feel respect for me because I am black” on his Instagram account.
“But I am not going to come down from the level I have reached. I have been in this game for 18 years,” he added, posting a screenshot from Wikipedia of all the cups he has won.
Eto’o did not specify to whom he was targeting his criticism but later posted another message insisting his message was not directed to the chairman of the club Ali Safak Ozturk.
In response to the post, the board of the club held a meeting behind closed door and decided to leave Eto’o out of the squad until further notice. Turkish commentators had interpreted the remarks of Eto’o as a response to apparent criticism by Ali Safak Ozturk of his performance in the early season.
“No player is above the interests of Antalyaspor. Everyone must know their place,” the chairman was quoted as saying.
Eto’o joined Antalyaspor last year, but has recently been linked with a move to their rivals Besiktas as the team suffered a poor start to the season. Eto’o is the most decorated African player of all time, having won the Africa player of the year award a record four times and also came third in the FIFA world player of the year award in 2005. He started his football career in Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon but made his mark in Barcelona where scored over 100 goals in five seasons with the club.
hmm...
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