Samuel Eto'o claims he was victim of racism in his time at Chelsea

Samuel Eto’o

Samuel Eto’o, one of football’s elite, has claimed that he was a victim of racism in the short period of time the Cameroon international spent at Chelsea. Eto’o has played for many big football clubs like FC Barcelona and Inter Milan, and was one of the world’s highest paid players during his stint at Russian Club Anzhi Makhachkala, earning around 350,000 euros per week.

The 34-year-old striker told CNN on Thursday how he was not exempt from the extreme brutality of racism in his time at the London club.

Eto’o told CNN that how he was denied from buying a watch from a jeweller’s shop, where they turned down his credit card – an action which he believes was inspired by racism. He further said, “I went to go buy a watch at jewellers, not far from my house. The watch I wanted to see was expensive. I asked the saleswoman - who was also black: Could you show me that watch, please? First I saw her turn to her co-workers like: Uh what should I do?

“Eventually, she let me see the watch. I looked at it and said: OK, I'll buy it. I took out my credit card and when she went to go run it through the machine; she came back and said that it was declined.

“I asked her: Was it declined or did you not want it to be accepted? My brother asked: What's going on?' And she said: Nothing, nothing. But he said: No. Because when I came in I saw how all of you were looking at us.

“My brother told them: My brother can afford this and the way you are treating him shows that you think, just because he is black, he can't afford this watch. The woman then slipped up and said: No, it's just that we had some Nigerians in the store the other day that came in with fake credit cards.

“I don't know if you can imagine the weight of what she said. If one of my own makes a mistake, they judge us all. I don't think she's a racist person, but she stereotyped all black people as ‘Those people'.”

The claims come after a French commuter Souleymane S became the victim of racism when a small group of Chelsea supporters didn’t allow him to board the train on occasion of the Chelsea-PSG Champions League match.