From Eto’o, with love: Kaptoum and Enguene shine for Barça

Pound for pound he may have been the best No.9 centre-forward this club ever had. An outright better footballer than Ronaldo or Romario? Well, perhaps not – you decide.

But pound for pound, a guy who stayed longer than the greatest imported strikers normally do here, who had an extraordinary winning attitude, who scored in both his Champions League finals for the club, who pressed, who harried, who made it his special mission to torment Madrid.

During the revitalisation under Frank Rijkaard he led from the front. When Guardiola lit the blue touch paper of absolute greatness, in the treble season, Eto’o liked the flame.

As they say here, ‘a crack’.

Now, long after he was pushed out by Pep (going on to show he’s a serial winner with Inter in their treble season – how many players have won two trebles?) he keeps yielding for this club.

The Samuel Eto’o foundation in Cameroon has been prodigious in finding the best young talents in that football-mad nation. During the good years of co-operation between the Eto’o foundation and Barcelona the flow of talent was extremely nutritious.

The queue of talent which is in the first layer underneath the top team, and knocking on the door to get in, includes Foundation graduates Jean Marie Dongou, their top scorer as they surge up the second division, Fabrice Ondoa, a highly-rated young keeper, and Franck Bagnack, a fine 19-year-old centre-half.

Now on the evidence of this UEFA Youth League win (it’s the equivalent of the Champions League for under-19s and the groups match the senior competition), there’s more and more to come.

The 3-0 scoreline doesn’t paint the gap between the two sides adequately but the standout players, watched in the Mini Stadium last night by Gabri, Munir, Carles Puyol and Andoni Zubizarreta, were two more Eto’o graduates shipped here years ago from Cameroon.

Enguene, just turned 18, catches the eye most. Nominally playing in Iniesta’s left midfield position, his control, his one-on-one skills, his passing and his chutzpah make him the more appealing viewing – the cheeky street kid. His night started with the first goal assist and he then paraded about where he wished, marking his quality throughout.

But the gem for the more refined eye is his compatriot Wilfred Kaptoum. From Douala, pals with Enguene as they are the same age and arrived in Catalunya at the same time (just over six years ago) he can play across the midfield three and his precision, technique, discipline and work rate is more reminiscent of the Guardiola era in the senior team than Enguene’s individuality.

Barcelona are holders of the tournament thanks to Munir’s 11 goals last season and a big win in the final over Benfica, and this wasn’t the worst way to begin their defence. Only four players repeat in Jordi Vinyals’ squad from last season, but two of them are Enguene and Kaptoum.