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After a tough start to life at Stamford Bridge -- his fitness was quite rightly in question following his summer move from Anzhi Makhachkala -- Samuel Eto'o has been on fire lately, scoring a series of important goals as Chelsea find themselves in the business end of a title race and in the serious stages of the Champions League. And that form got me wondering just how good a signing he's been.
Last summer saw a few fairly big names come to the Premier League. Both Alvaro Negredo and Roberto Soldado departed La Liga for England, and Wilfried Bony went to Swansea from Vitesse Arnhem. Pablo Osvaldo made an ill-fated switch from Roma to Southampton, and Samuel Eto'o reunited with Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge. It wasn't the most inspiring move, but it's actually turned out pretty well. Let's see how those five strikers I mentioned stack up in terms of Premier League minutes per goal.
Warning: Minutes might not be 100 percent accurate, because I typed them out manually from game logs.
Wilfried Bony: 1753 minutes, 10 goals (175 m/g)
Samuel Eto'o: 1188 minutes, 8 goals (149 m/g)
Pablo Osvaldo: 855 minutes, 3 goals (285 m/g)
Alvaro Negredo: 1599 miutes, 9 goals (178 m/g)
Roberto Soldado: 1744 minutes, 6 goals (290.7 m/g)
None of the Premier League's summer signings were particularly inspired, but considering Eto'o came on a free transfer and isn't eating a significant chunk of Chelsea's wage bill, it's hard not to be happy with how he's fared 30 games into the season. Hopefully he'll be back soon and can carry on scoring in the run-in.
