Is Samuel Eto’o the man to fire Chelsea to the title this season?

Could new signing Samuel Eto’o fire Chelsea to the Premier League title this season?

During the transfer window Chelsea brought in a high-profile striker, that had won every honour there is in the club game and played at the pinnacle of football.

No not Wayne Rooney, some may say unfortunately, but Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.

Move

The former-Barcelona star moved to Chelsea from Russian club Anzhi for an undisclosed fee towards the end of the transfer window. The veteran star is believed to have taken a major pay-cut to make the move possible.

He was always going to have to take a pay-cut to move on this summer, as he was the highest paid player in world football on ridiculously high wages in Russia.

Last chance

Eto’o obviously thought this was his last chance to move back to a mainstream European league. At 32-years old he could not afford to leave it any longer to play in a top league. I am sure the pay-cut will not harm his lifestyle too much.

Good enough

As Eto’o enters the veteran stage of his career he still believes he is good enough to play at the highest level of football. Now the question is can he still play in a top European league? He has spent two years in the Russian, which let’s face it is not the best standard of league in Europe, no matter how many overpaid foreign players are playing in the league.

One of Eto’o’s biggest attributes in his prime was pace, whether that pace has faded with age remains to be seen. Having not seen the striker play for a while I am not in position to assess to his current state of fitness.

Option

Eto’o always had a very intelligent football brain though and that never fades, even as a player gets older. Eto’o provides Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho with another striking option. The three strikers that were at the club when the Portuguese arrived have yet to convince that they are good enough for Chelsea.

One of those strikers Romelu Lukaku has rather surprisingly been loaned out to Everton for the season, who the Blues take on this weekend. Big things were expected of the young man mountain this season after he did so well on-loan at West Brom.

However, it seems that Mourinho does not believe that Lukaku is ready for first team football at Chelsea and sent him out to gain more first team experience elsewhere. A lot of Chelsea fans were disappointed to see the youngster leave the club.

Then there is British-record signing Fernando Torres, who has flattered to deceive since his £50million move from Liverpool in 2011. The Spaniard is not the same player that torn into defences in the early part of his Reds career.

Torres looks to be a shadow of his former-self and it does not look like he is ever going to recover his best form in a Chelsea shirt. Many managers have tried to bring the best out of the striker in recent years, but all have failed to bring the best out of Torres.

The other striking option that Chelsea has is Senegal international striker Demba Ba, who has also failed to impress in a Chelsea shirt, despite being prolific at Newcastle. The striker just cannot seem get going at Stamford Bridge.

He did have a good scoring record in the north east, but just does not seem to fit in with the way that Chelsea play football.  His style of play would definitely be more suited to another team.

Loan moves to Arsenal and Tottenham never materialised for the striker on deadline day, so he is at Chelsea at least until January. Ba is behind Eto’o and Torres in the pecking order though and will most likely spend lots of the season warming the Blues bench.

Clever

The signing of Samuel Eto’o could prove to be a very clever move by Jose Mourinho. Eto’o is a real winner, having won every trophy there is on offer in the European game with Barcelona and Inter. The veteran striker will offer the Blues experience and know-how.

His signing could mean the difference between Chelsea winning the Premier League title and not. The former-African Player of the Year will also add his clinical finishing to a Chelsea team that have been crying out for poacher in the last few years.

Whether Eto’o will be a success at Chelsea is too early to say, but one thing we know about Samuel Eto’o is that he has been successful in two of Europe’s biggest leagues, who says he will not be in the Premier League.

Is Samuel Eto’o the man to fire Chelsea to the title?