10 Players Who Did Nothing At Chelsea (But Excelled For Their Country)

2. Samuel Eto€™o

Samuel Eto€™o is surely synonymous with €˜winning€™. During a distinguished career, he has won four league titles, three Champions Leagues and two African Cup of Nations. A pivotal part of two treble-winning teams, the Cameroonian superstar with over 300 career goals to date has firmly established himself as one of the finest players to emerge this side of the millenium. For Chelsea, he was never more than a bit-part player, however, having arrived at the club as a rusty 32 year old who had just spent the previous two seasons playing on artificial pitches against mediocre opposition in Russia. An appetite for the game that had seen him score in two Champions League finals in the past looked to have disappeared during the beginning of last season, and so it was no surprise to see him score just nine league goals in 21 outings for the Blues. For his country, he will go down as a legend. The four-time African Player of the Year and Cameroon all-time top scorer has 56 strikes in 117 games for his nation, and played a key role in the African Cup of Nations successes of 2000 and 2002. He earned his first Cameroonian cap as a 15 year old boy, albeit it was a day before he turned 16, and he was the youngest player to feature at the 1998 World Cup at the age of 17 years and three months. He is only the third African to participate in four World Cups, and is the current African Cup of Nations all-time top scorer with 18 goals.