Samuel Eto’o has hit out at his treatment by former boss Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, accusing the 43-year-old of being “tree-dwelling”, “feathery” and “a toucan”.
Eto’o played under Guardiola in the 2008/09 season, and claims that in this time the Spanish tactician only communicated with him through a series of whistles, high-pitched squawks, and displays of plumage.
“I reminded Guardiola that he had never been a great player, or any sort of player, or a human being,” Eto’o told FourFourTwo. “To my mind, he was and always had been a large-billed relative of the woodpecker.
“He had very little experience of coaching, or of walking on two legs without breaking into flight. He didn’t understand the dressing room, or what a dressing room was, or pretty much anything that didn’t involve nest-building, fruit, or other toucans.”
While he claims to have always respected Guardiola’s colourful beak and unerring ability to find and consume lizards, Eto’o insisted that he had no professional relationship whatsoever with the Catalan coach.
“He had nothing to teach me as a manager,” he said. “I don’t need his advice to defend my territory from rival birds, and I have no interest in incubating eggs.”
Guardiola has refused to comment on Eto’o’s claims that he is a toucan, which the Chelsea forward maintains is down to his undeveloped vocal cords and absence of lips.
Another former Barca striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, also had a difficult relationship with Guardiola, memorably accusing the current Bayern boss of being nothing but a stripe-backed bittern.
