New Blues attacker is expected to make his first appearance for the club against Everton on Saturday.
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Former Anzhi Makhachkala team director Roberto Carlos has warned Chelsea that new signing Samuel Eto’o could become a damaging influence in the Stamford Bridge dressing room like he was in Russia, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The west London club recently bought the experienced Cameroon international on a free transfer from the big-spending Russian outfit after returning Blues head coach Jose Mourinho had failed in his long-running efforts to land unsettled Manchester United front man Wayne Rooney this summer.
Eto’o, 32, arrives in the capital having put pen to paper on a one-year deal with the UEFA Europa League winners, but the ex-Brazil international has sent out a stark warning to Chelsea about their new forward.
“I’ve known Eto’o since I was 16, and from that time on he’s always been a good guy who I’ve liked a lot,” Carlos said in an interview with Globo newspaper.
“He’s a good person, but there a part of him that thinks ‘I, and not the group’, which is really damaging.
“When a footballer, instead of playing, is interested in signing players who are his friends … it’s confusing and strange.
“He did everything at Anzhi, except play football.
“I came to the club and in my first year we finished in the top five.
“We managed to professionalise the team. In the second year, we signed Eto’o and I had control of the team – I organised the players and worked with the coach. I put Anzhi among the best.
“With the arrival of Eto’o, with the values of everyone involved, I had some little problems in the dressing room and had to talk to the Russian players and explain why Eto’o was there.
“However, a moment arrived when Eto’o thought to interfere with my work, to control the club, taking my position and that of Guus [Hiddink, the coach].
“We talked about one thing, and then he went to the players and talked about another. That stressed me out and I warned that I would pack my bags and go.
“No one believed me because I had a four-year contract. But then I called Anzhi and came to an agreement.”
Eto’o left Anzhi this summer after their mega-rich Russian owner Suleyman Kerimov suddenly decided to start cutting costs and initiating a fire sale of the club’s highest-earning players and members of staff.
The former Barcelona star had become the best-paid player in the world upon moving to the Russian side from Inter Milan in 2011, and joins Brazilian forward Willian in making the move to Stamford Bridge this summer.