During football's off-season, one learns to expect all sorts of bizarre transfer rumors. But Samuel Eto'o signing for Uzbek club, PFC Kuruvchi, takes things to a new extreme. Never before has the term "silly season" been more appropriate.
On Monday, Kuruvchi announced via their official website that Eto'o had signed a six-month contract. Next came the rebuttal from Barcelona's spokesman who stated that the transfer was not "very likely."
It certainly wouldn't seem likely. What would possess Eto'o to move to Uzbekistan? Arguably Africa's greatest ever player, he is still in the prime of his career. His time at Barcelona appears to have ended, but countless top European clubs would welcome him with open arms.
Instead, it was in Tashkent today that Eto'o received a hero's welcome. What he was doing there, accompanied by three Barcelona representatives, is anyone's guess. Is this some sort of ridiculous publicity stunt? If it is then we should find out pretty soon.
If, however, there is any truth in Kuruvchi's claims, it would represent the irreversible slide towards a modern game dominated by money.
Aging Europeans travel to the Middle East looking for one last bumper payday. Spurred on by cash-hungry agents and consortiums, young South Americans are increasingly likely to be found, shivering, in the former Soviet Bloc. David Beckham's American "mission" would have been a non-starter without the significant financial incentive.
The one thing that these new football markets have is wealth, drawn largely from natural resources. Uzbekistan is no exception, producing the sixth-largest amount of cotton in the World (useful for all those Eto'o replica shirts) and possessing significant deposits of gold, silver, coal and oil.
Unfortunately for the Uzbek people, very little of that wealth finds its way back to them; despite a national GDP of $64 billion, about a third of the country lives below the poverty line.
If the Eto'o deal goes through, it will not be cheap. Kuruvchi are sponsored by Uzbek energy giant UzGazOil so funds shouldn't be a problem. But is that what football has become?
It is sad to think that Eto'o would trade the Champion's League for the chance to battle Pakhtakor in Uzbekistan's Oliy League. It would be a shame if money proved to be so persuasive. How else could an unknown club in landlocked Central Asia entice one of the world's best talents?
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