Beto reveals which two former Everton heroes motivated his Goodison Park move
Beto has revealed that former Everton heroes Samuel Eto’o and Romelu Lukaku inspired his move to Goodison Park.
Speaking with EvertonTV (20 September), the £26million man admitted to wearing a Lukaku shirt in his youth and pointed to Eto’o as his “all-time hero” in football.
Beto’s connection to both Toffees strikers was a key motivation behind his move to Merseyside, with the Portuguese forward claiming it was a “dream” of his to play at Goodison.
Beto said, as quoted by Liverpool World: “My friends bought that shirt for me. I was watching Everton games all of the time and I was always speaking to them about Lukaku, Lukaku, Lukaku!
“On my birthday, my friends put in to buy me a shirt with his name and number on the back. I was at Portimonense at the time but I wore it a lot. As you could see, some of the letters were even peeling off!
“My first memories of Everton are watching the Merseyside derbies. My all-time hero is Samuel Eto’o so I followed him at Chelsea and I loved Romelu Lukaku so that led me to Everton. I would watch the derbies and say, ‘Everton can’t lose this!’, but I watched a lot of games and still remember them now.
“The 4-0 win against Manchester City stands out and the 6-2 against Bournemouth when Lukaku scored four goals. For me, it is a dream to have the chance to play at Goodison.”
High praise
As a fan, it is always very encouraging to hear players speak so fondly of their club.
Naturally, scepticism is applied when players seemingly have a sudden affiliation with their new club, but Beto’s story had enough depth and detail to make it seem genuine.
Eto’o did not play the prime of his career in Merseyside, but Beto cites him as his all-time hero in terms of football, so following his exceptional footsteps was clearly a big factor for the 25-year-old to make the move from Udinese.
Lukaku is perhaps the Toffees’ most memorable striker in recent seasons, so is understandable how Beto’s eyes were turned by the big Belgian during his stint at Goodison.
Beto is a long way off from reaching even Eto’o’s Everton output, but he has got off the mark this season in the League Cup victory over Doncaster Rovers and will be eyeing up the Brentford clash to finally score his first Premier League goal.
That being said, he is still 86 goals away from matching Lukaku’s all-time Everton goal haul but will be keen to quickly surpass Eto’o’s four-goal tally after his single season at the club in 2014/15.
Everton fans will be keen for Beto to increase his goalscoring numbers, but if he becomes even half the player as either of his Goodison heroes, they could be in for a treat.
In other Everton news, a journalist has revealed what he does not expect to happen with 777 Partners’ takeover of the club.