As Samuel Eto‘o joins latest club… we reveal five ageing for Premier League stars you probably thought had retired
Heroes from Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are still scoring in outposts like Florida, Indonesia and India
THERE were plenty of twists and turns as the January transfer window slammed shut on Wednesday evening, but one of the biggest surprises was Samuel Eto’o’s move to Konyaspor.
The fact the legendary striker – who won the treble with Inter Milan and two Champions Leagues with Barcelona – left struggling Antalyaspor wasn’t the shock. That came in the fact he is still playing at 36.
Eto’o left the consciousness of most when he joined Sampdoria from Everton in January 2015 after just six months at Goodison Park.
But after bagging 44 goals in just 77 outings for the Scorpions he has moved to Konyaspor, who are 17th in the Turkish Super Lig, two points and a place worse off than his old club.
Eto’o is not the only veteran still turning out, though.
We asked our friends at Football Whispers to trawl the globe in search of other players you’ll be surprised to learn are still pulling on their boots.
Michael Essien
There was a time when the Ghanaian midfielder was one of the Premier League’s best.
Signed from Lyon for £24.4m in August 2005, Essien was a key cog in Jose Mourinho’s first Chelsea spell.
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Quick and strong, a true box-to-box midfielder, Essien dominated as the Blues won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, the League Cup and Champions League.
But injuries saw his impact begin to diminish and, in 2013, he joined Milan.
He failed to rediscover his best form in Italy and went off the grid, somewhat, by joining Greek side Panathinaikos.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that was the end of Essien. But it wasn’t.
In March 2017 he rejected an offer from A-League side Melbourne Victory in favour of joining Indonesian side Persib Bandung where, aged 35, he’s still going.
Dimitar Berbatov
The Bulgarian always made football look easy while, at the same time, giving the impression it was a great effort on his behalf to even bother.
From the highs of Tottenham and Manchester United, winning two titles and the League Cup at Old Trafford, Berbatov has bounced around the globe since.
Spells at Fulham, Monaco and PAOK were brief, and it he appeared retired after failing to sign for another club during the 2016/17 campaign.
However, in August last year the maverick froward, 37, joined former United teammate Wes Brown at Kerala Blasters on a one-year deal worth approximately £900,000.
Joe Cole
Another player who had a big part to play in Chelsea’s early success under Mourinho, Cole gradually found himself pushed out the side and made an ill-fated move to Liverpool in 2010.
In two seasons at Anfield the former England winger made just 20 Premier League appearances, only nine of which were starts.
In an attempt to rekindle the magic he signed for first club West Ham, later moving onto Aston Villa and League One side Coventry City.
Now 36, the three-time Premier League winner is still going across the pond in the USA.
Cole signed for Tampa Bay Rowdies in the reformed North American Soccer League in May 2016 and has been a regular since.
Robbie Keane
Ireland’s all-time leading goalscorer is a man who loves a move. So much so, in fact, he’s made 13 in a professional career spanning almost 21 years and more than 600 appearances.
After five goal-laden seasons in Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy, Keane left the States in November 2016 and it looked as though he would call it quits.
However, in August 2017 the 37-year-old forward re-emerged in India with Atletico de Kolkata (ATK for short), signing for his former Spurs teammate Teddy Sheringham who was the club’s coach.
Sheringham has been sacked but Keane remains in the sub-continent having scored twice in four outings for the 2016 Indian Super League champions.
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Shaun Wright-Phillips
A player with such promise when he broke through at Manchester City in the early 2000s, Wright-Phillips made a series of moves which did not work out and failed to reach the heights he should have.
One of the best players outside the top four when he signed for Chelsea in 2005, the move was the start of the winger’s problems.
City were taken over shortly after he returned and a four-year spell with Queens Park Rangers proved disastrous.
So, in 2016, Wright-Phillips followed his half-brother Bradley to the USA, signing for New York Red Bulls.
Again he struggled to rediscover anything like his best form.
But, at 36, he is still going with Phoenix Rising – the United Soccer League side owned by ex-Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba.
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