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| Gaël Etock - now in Jyväskylä, still determined to go places |
"When I came here I had problems with both my hamstrings, and I started with light training, running, and doing a lot of things with the physio. I have not played for some time, last matches were friendlies with Antalyaspor against Stuttgart, Bremen and a Qatar selection in January, when Samuel Eto'o invited me to play with the team. My last official match was in Israel for Hapoel Petah Tikva, about a year ago."
Samuel Eto'o's protegé
Gaël Etock's footballing career originally took off and has been much kept alive thanks to the most influential person in his life, Samuel Eto'o. Gaël mentions the name of the four-time African footballer-of-the-year constantly, and his huge gratitude to his patron is very obvious.
"My family lived in Kribi, in the south, Cameroon's touristic site, where my father worked. I have two brothers and three sisters, I am the second. The others like to study, but I was always interested in football. I moved then to Douala to live with my uncle and went to the Cameroon's best football school there. My coach there was Joseph Diallo (Siéwé), who was also Samuel Eto'o's first coach and had even paid for Samuel's first football shoes. He told Samuel about me, "I have a kid similar to you.""
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| Samuel Eto'o Foundation - Gaël Etock in the forefront |
"After the tournament I started getting offers to move to Spain to play. I was always a Real Madrid fan, my dream was to go to Real where Ronaldo, "the real Ronaldo", played. Samuel kept convincing me that I should join Barcelona instead. So, finally I decided to go to Barca."
Young Gaël was closely supported by the star player himself. Fundación Samuel Eto'o (FSE) started a cooperation with FC Barcelona in mid 00's, and started bringing promising footballers from Cameroon to La Masia, FC Barcelona's center for youth development. Etock being one of the very first to move there. (The idea behind the collaboration between FSE and Barcelona is well explained in Jamie Lindsay's report on In Bed with Maradona.)
How was life at La Masia then?
"I was eleven when I moved to Barcelona. It was hard at first when I was leaving my home so young at eleven and not with my family, and especially in the beginning when it took 16 months to resolve my papers and I could not play. After my papers were ok, it was easier."
"We went to school in the morning at eight, then at 1pm we took a bus back to La Masia where we had lunch at 1.30. After lunch it was more studies until 4 o'clock, and then at 6 o'clock started the training. As I grew faster than others, I soon started playing with people 2 years older than me. Then we practiced in the morning, with Thiago Alcantara, Marc Bartra and others, and we had special teachers and because we could not go to school in the morning. I spent 6,5 years there, but only played for five years."
"Today, I am the only one playing professional football of the first five boys moving to La Masia from Cameroon. Later, there is another, Kaptoum (Wilfrid, born in 1998, and playing for Barcelona, still mainly for their B team)."
Hot prospect
As a player having already at fifteen been playing with footballers two or three years senior for Barcelona U18's Etock became a big prospect with several major clubs interested.
After five years at La Masia, Gaël became the first signing of the newly appointed Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas, for a transfer fee of 1,5 million pounds, in summer 2011. The then seventeen-year-old would not, however, ever get to play at Chelsea due to a missing work permit, due to not having played for the Cameroon national team or enough games in the junior national squads.
"I signed for Chelsea for six years then, until 2018, the ownership was fifty-fifty between Chelsea and an Israeli company my agent Pini Zahavi worked for."
Instead he was loaned straight out to Portugal, to Sporting Clube de Portugal (also known as Sporting Lisbon) junior team. In his first season at Sporting he won silverware with the U18.
At Sporting, Etock then made an impact playing for the B team. After his debut in August 2012 in the Portuguese Segunda Liga, eventually he scored six goals in 29 games that season with Sporting finishing fourth in the final league table.
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| In action at Sporting (photo snitched from abancadanascente.blogspot.com) |
After the season in Portugal he moved to Belgium, to Cercle Brugge. This move was apparently due to a rift between his agent Zahavi and Sporting - thus all Zahavi players (more than 10!) left the club.
At Cercle Brugge Etock got a good start, in the Jupiler Pro League (Belgian Premier League), often coming from the bench, scoring two goals in his first five matches. His total for the 2013/14 season was fifteen games under his belt, before missing most of action rest of the season, and then moving on again.
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| Wearing Cercle Brugge colours (photo from rtbf.be) |
In addition to the mates from Barcelona he mentions Eric Dier with whom he played together at Sporting, and who now plays for England in the Euro2016. Same teams, different paths.
Disappearing from radar
After the season at Cercle Brugge league Etock was loaned out further, this time to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and without a game there, on to Hapoel Petah Tikva in Israel.
These loan deals were arranged by the shared ownership. The man was wanted by several big clubs during the time contracted with Chelsea, but the owners of his player rights refused to let him transfer. "They sent me to play for the teams they were working with, but I wanted to play at better teams at better level."
"Chelsea were asking too much money. They wanted the clubs to pay back what they had invested in me, the 1,5 million pound transfer fee plus everything else they had spent, my wages for many years, and so on. So, no club was willing to pay something like three million Euros. They sent me to play for the teams they were working with, but I wanted to play for better teams at a better level."
Etock wanted to move and had his sights on bigger leagues and clubs. There were plenty of transfer rumours around Etock. Fiorentina, Lille and Villareal were after the striker.
"Samuel (Eto'o) got me connected with Sampdoria, too. Also Basel was interested. But when the owners (Chelsea and the agency) started to ask for big money, they lost their interest."
Last year (summer 2015) Etock had trials and was close to signing for IK Start in Norway. "I was set to sign for Start in Norway when I had an injury while sprinting in a medical test. That was it then. I was injured for 6 weeks again."
"No more, I am done"
"This is how it was when I went to Israel, I was not playing, I was injured. They were paying my money, my bonus and everything, but I just said no, I do not want just money. Money is important, but I want to play. Then I decided it is over. I stopped going to the training, I did not want to go on like that. I was waiting and then Samuel Eto'o started speaking with them."
Eventually, his papers were transferred to Cyprus, to Apollon Limassol (to another team owned by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich). "I had no choice when they moved my papers to Apollon."
But the player was not too happy about the idea of playing at Apollon. "I still had two years on my contract, then I said no more, I am done. I do not want to play there."
Etock holds no grudges towards Zahavi. "No, he was a good agent, perfect for me. The problem was more with the company he worked for and who owned my rights with Chelsea."
Then again Samuel Eto'o came to the rescue and acquired Etock's player rights from the owners. Etock was released from his long contract that would have been valid for further two years. The contract with Pini Zahavi was also cancelled, so he does not have a permanent agent running his negotiations.
"Samuel talked with Abramovich and Chelsea, took care and arranged me to get out of the contract. I never know how much he paid to do it, and I am very grateful to him as now I can try to find the best club to get me where I want to be."
"He did so much for me. Beginning of this year he took me to Turkey when I was injured. He let me recover, he took (to Antalyaspor) to play, and I played in a friendly. It was good for me, but because we play the same position, I did not want to stay there. I wanted to find my own place."
Etock also had a trial with another club while over in Turkey.
Looking for a new dawn
At the time of being released, however, the transfer window was closed almost everywhere except the Nordic countries.
"There are a couple of clubs in Spain (Segunda Division) who wanted to sign me but I did not want to wait until July or August to get there. I wanted to play and needed to play in the summer. Kemi (PS Kemi in Finnish Veikkausliiga) called me a few times and wanted me for trials, but I never wanted to go there."
Instead Etock flew out to Finland and Jyväskylä early May to train with JJK. A trio of local Jyväskylä football people had stretched out their hand and arranged a connection with JJK Jyväskylä, an Ykkönen club (First Division = 2nd level football) in Finland - with a bunch of local companies (the aforementioned private hotel included) backing up. Etock joined promotion-chasing JJK on trial, first for a month, and eventually, got a contract for the rest of season.
"I had contacts every day from China, Spain, everywhere. So, I said I just need to train and find a club for myself. Then I started getting calls from agents, and clubs - then an agent I know who is friends with Sampo (Kemilä) introduced him to me. Sampo told me about JJK and I liked it, I said yeah, I decided to go there. They made everything happen with JJK, and everything was well arranged. They met me at the airport, they have helped me with everything..."
"At JJK, the club doctor, physios and coaches have put a lot of effort in getting me into top form. I had problems with both my hamstrings when I joined, but I am ok now, I would say I am at least 80% of my best physical condition. Now I need to get minutes and games to gain match fitness."
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| Starting on the bench at JJK |
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| Wearing JJK colours and his national team number - 4 |
"It is true that he was not fully fit. The club knew from the start where he is fitness-wise. The local guys, team doctor Oskari Ervasti, local physio Jari Pekkola, team physical/second coach Lude (Antti Luhta) and a local fitness center, they have worked hard and done a great job with Gaël to get him fit. These guys are really top professionals. With the level of Finnish medical expertise I know it is going to work out", Kankkunen tells.
An additional benefit to the club is Gaël's presence in JJK junior team training sessions, motivating and showing his example. He seems very happy to be there with the young prospects.
"Best player in the league" - chasing promotion
An experienced team mate at JJK thinks along the same lines of Etock: "When he gets match fit, he could be the best player even in the Veikkausliiga (Finnish Premier). He has such a great touch and he definitely knows what to do with the ball even in a small space."
Big words, and a tall order to fulfill. Remains to be seen if Gaël can make it. At 185 cm he is big enough, and judging by earlier reports goal hungry enough to fill the gap at the front as JJK has been missing goals from the strikers. Just one goal out of seventeen scored by its front line, and relying heavily on its prolific midfield. If all pieces fall into place, he could then continue his way to higher leagues.
JJK head coach Juha Pasoja has been a little more cautious, and did not field Etock in his first game under contract with JJK: "He is a big and very talented player, but not in top of his form yet. I do not give any player privileges, so he will have to get in shape to earn his minutes on the pitch."
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| No minutes in his first match for JJK |
"I still want to go on to play for big teams, and the national team. But first, I want to help JJK gain promotion to the top league. My family back home is happy when they see me play."
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