Eto’o Identifies One Player That Can Replace Messi At Barcelona

African football legend and former Cameroon international, Samuel Eto’o has identified youngster, Ansu Fati as the player capable of filling Lionel Messi’s boots at Barcelona.

Eto’o in a chat with SPORTbible said the 18-year-old Fati is capable of replacing the enigmatic Messi at Camp Nou when the Argentine finally retires or leaves the club.

With Messi’s current contract with the Spanish giants set to expire this summer and the player yet to agree a new contract with Barca, Eto’o who played alongside the 33-year-old talismanic player said Fati is a player the club can grom to replace Messi.

Samuel Eto’o

Fati had five goals and four assists in 10 games for Barcelona this season before a major knee injury forced him to the sidelines and is still some weeks away from returning to the field.

“I think [Fati] is the one for the future,” Eto’o said of the player.

“He’s currently doing amazing stuff, so I think the club really needs to groom him and take very good care of him.

“Let’s hope he’s the one to take over from Messi.”

Naija News recalls Messi had declared his intention to leave Barcelona and had handed in a transfer request before the current season started.

But after weeks of dragging with the club and most other interested clubs unable to meet the player’s €700 million (£624m/$823m) release clause, Messi returned to training with the Camp Nou outfit, but with his current contract expiring in 2021, there are fears the Argentine forward may eventually leave Barcelona on a free.

Meanwhile, amidst growing speculations of a pending exit from Arsenal during the current transfer window, Mezut Ozil has declared he has no single regret about joining the London club.

Ozil who had a celebrated arrival in Arsenal back in 2013 under Arsene Wenger has been totally frozen out of the team at Emirates Stadium under new coach, Mikel Arteta and looks set to exit the club this January.

However, despite the frustrating situation in which he has found himself in recent times at the club, the playmaker has declared he’ll never regret joining Arsenal.

He made the submission while answering questions from his Twitter fans, saying that he has enjoyed his time at Arsenal.