Samuel Eto'o Talks Romelu Lukaku, Says He Wants to Help 'Fight Against Racism'

Former Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o has praised Romelu Lukaku's start to life at the San Siro and has also spoken about the measures he believes will help discourage racism in football.

Eto'o is rated as one of the finest strikers of his generation, having excelled in spells with Barcelona and Inter. The Cameroon international recently confirmed his retirement from the sport, capping off a distinguished career.

In the twilight years of his playing days, Eto'o moved to the Premier League, where he had brief spells with Chelsea and Everton and played alongside Lukaku at the latter. Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Goal) in an interview publish on Tuesday, Eto'o hailed the talent and temperament of the Belgium international.

"I like Lukaku on and off the pitch. There are footballers who feel like stars and others who are like normal people—he's in the second group. And you'll see how many goals he'll score. 

"We were together at Everton. He was very young but very intelligent and has said important things about racism."

Following his transfer from Manchester United this summer, Lukaku has thrived early in the season with three goals in six league games. Inter have enjoyed a brilliant start to the domestic campaign, too, winning all six of their matches.

Under Antonio Conte, Lukaku appears set to shine:

Already the Belgian has endeared himself to the Nerazzurri faithful, as he scored a crucial goal in the recent win over city rivals AC Milan:

While Lukaku has impressed with his goalscoring talent in Italy, he suffered racist abuse from Cagliari fans in early September during a 2-1 away win, in which Lukaku scored the winner.

Eto'o said he thinks a lot of work needs to be done off the field in order to change attitudes of some fans:

"Getting off the field is the right answer. Football moves a lot of money but most of the players who generate it are black. If one day, all over the world, with the help of their white colleagues, they decided not to play, that's it: It would change a lot.

"FIFA president Gianni Infantino said something very important on the night of the FIFA Best awards: 'No more talking: doing.' The head of world football said that."

Eto'o said he wants to be remembered as someone "who helped in the fight against racism" in addition to being a fine player. In terms of his on-field achievements, they speak for themselves:

After the incident at Cagliari, Lukaku said he felt the game is "going backwards" when it comes to dealing with discrimination. The Cagliari supporters were later cleared of racist chanting by an independent sports judging panel.

Having excelled in Serie A this season, Inter will be seeking to get their UEFA Champions League campaign kickstarted on Wednesday, when they face Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Conte's side were disappointing in their first match of the competition, a 1-1 draw at home to Slavia Prague.