Former Cameroon international Samuel
Eto’o was recalled by Turkish side Antalyaspor on Sunday after being
dropped for allegedly accusing the club leadership of racism on social
media.
Club chairman Ali Safak Ozturk said the
former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea star had been forgiven after
expressing regret for the remarks.
Antalyaspor will need all of the
35-year-old striker’s skill and experience to improve their current
predicament, which sees them parked at the bottom of the Super Lig with
just two points from six games.
Eto’o was included in the side to face Galatasaray in Istanbul on Sunday, coming on as a substitute in the 29th minute.
Antalyaspor took an early first-half
lead and Eto’o had a goal disallowed. But one goal from Galatasaray’s
Selcuk Inan and two late strikes from former German international Lukas
Podolski gave the hosts a 3-1 win.
The big-spending club had hoped for far
better when they signed Eto’o in June 2015 as the keystone of their bid
to find national and even European success for the southern
Mediterranean resort city.
After criticism of his own performance,
Eto’o had written on his Instagram account last month that “some people
do not feel respect for me because I am black.”
This was seen by many as a dig at Antalyaspor chairman Ozturk and Eto’o was dropped from the team and told to train alone.
The chairman said that Eto’o had
expressed regret over the posting and had insisted it was not aimed
against the club leadership. “We have taken him back into the team
again.”
He said that racism was a grave accusation and Eto’o needed to be more careful in the future.
“These are very important issues not
just for this player but players across the world,” he said, quoted by
Turkish media. “We think our player will behave more carefully and make a
contribution to the team.”
However the team’s latest defeat and
risk of relegation will raise new questions over the future of Eto’o and
Portuguese coach Jose Morais, a former assistant to Jose Mourinho at
Chelsea.
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