Chelsea’s technical director Michael Emenalo has said that the signing of Samuel Eto’o brings in much needed experience, experience that Chelsea thought would come in the shape of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.
United rejected two bids from Chelsea for striker Wayne Rooney but Chelsea eventually signed Eto’o on a free transfer from Anzhi.
This also allowed Romelu Lukaku to move to Everton on a season long loan deal to gain experience, the 20 year old spent last year on loan at West Brom. Michael Emenalo has said that he didn’t want to pile the pressure on the youngster.
“In the case of Samuel Eto’o, it was an open secret that we wanted Wayne Rooney and I don’t need to explain what the idea is behind wanting a player like Rooney,” Emenalo told Chelsea’s official website.”
“But we are not desperate and we know for the future we have Romelu Lukaku and incredible hope that he will come through and lead the line. People keep forgetting that he is only 20, and looking at the short-term plan, we don’t want to put too much pressure on a young player like him.”
“So if we weren’t able to get Rooney and we had Lukaku, Ba and Torres, we felt comfortable with them but we also felt comfortable to bring Eto’o to give us a little bit of competition, because we wanted to freshen up that position.”
Emenalo added, “We have every confidence in Torres, Ba and Lukaku but with Eto’o we have bought experience.”
James Moss – @JMoss_13
