Barcelona legend, Samuel Eto’o, has the perfect successor for Lionel Messi.
Former Barcelona striker and footballing legend, Samuel Eto’o, believes that he has found the wonder kid who should be Lionel Messi’s replacement in the Catalan club. Eto’o reckons that a youngster from Borussia Dortmund named Youssoufa Moukoko, will be the best bet for the post-Messi era.
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There is one question that lingers on every Barcelona fan’s mind, what will happen after Messi eventually leaves or retires? The 33-year-old was on the verge of an exit near the end of last season but due to some legal problems and disagreement with the President, Josep Bartomeu, he was not allowed to leave the club for free. A price tag of 700 million euros was put on him which effectively drove off any pursuers.
Messi instead of taking his boyhood club to the court decided to respect the contract and play out his last year. However, the Argentine might very well leave the club at the end of this season which will leave a big hole for Barcelona to fix. For many years the club has been reliant on the little magician to help them pull through and he was even the top scorer last year so it will be extremely hard, if not impossible to replace him.
Even if he wishes to stay on, his age will restrict him from playing for too long as he is already 33 and that is why they need a concrete plan to replace Messi. Eto suggests that German wonder kid, Moukoko is the answer. The 15-year-old has been named as a part of Dortmund’s team in the UEFA Champions League even though he is not eligible to play due to his age. He also made a few appearances for the Germany U-20 team and has scored an insane amount of goals, 134 to be exact in Dortmund’s U17 and U19 sides. The youth is yet to make his debut for the main team though but the ex-Chelsea star still backs him up,
"“[There’s] a young player who plays for Dortmund called Youssoufa Moukoko,” Eto’o told Goal“[He’s] 15 years of age, and he’s the next top player, for me, after Messi.”"
He would also like to see Kylian Mbappe at the club and believes that Moukoko along with Mbappe and Antione Griezman can replicate what Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez did upfront. This could be the next deadly trio and will ensure that Barcelona thrives even after the exit of their legend, Lionel Messi.