Eric Bekoe backs Franck Etouga to break his goalscoring record at Asante Kotoko

Former Asante Kotoko striker, Eric Bekoe has said that he is backing Cameroonian striker Franck Mbella Etouga to break his goal scoring record at the club.

The 20-year-old Cameroonian youth star has been in a rich vein of form in his first season at Kotoko, netting 11 times in 12 games for the Porcupines in the first round of the season.

What is special about his performance is that, he has netted two hat tricks so far which makes him the first Asante Kotoko player to do so in the Premier League era.

However, Bekoe who first came to prominence on the local scene when he starred for Asante Kotoko in the 2007/2008 Ghana premier league has heaped praises on the Cameroonian centre-forward, backing him to break his goal scoring record at the club.

“Even if it has take fasting for the Cameroonian (Mbella) to break my record, I will do it. After watching his first match, I said this guy was in for glory because his composure in the 18-yard box is exceptional,” Bekoe said in an interview with Kumasi-based Ashh FM.

“I wish the boy (Etouga) was a Ghanaian. Ghana lack box-box strikers like him but all the credit should go to two players, Lamptey and Mfegue. It’s like Kwabena Yaro and Eric Bekoe chemistry, I dove my hat for him always, he’s the reason I made my name at Asante Kotoko because I didn’t know how to dribble, mine was just the finishing. 

“It’s been a while since I went to stadium but because of Mbella, I will be at stadium this weekend, I want to go and see my style, what I mean is that, at first when you were going to stadium you had one particular player you were going to watch but it’s hard to find such today so since we have such a prominent striker, forget about the fact that we are playing away, let’s go and support our own which is Mbella”

“This is a player to watch, I’ve not had any contact with him but I love him from afar and he’s a boy who deserve all our prayers to clinch the goalking. He has already set a record if my memory serves me right as the only Kotoko striker to score two hat tricks in a season”

“It will take huge money to keep this guy (Mbella) even in the second round, let’s face the fact. Let’s force him to marry here (Kumasi) so he doesn’t leave us,” Bekoe jokingly said.

 “Kwame Opoku wasn’t a box-box striker, he’s the Ronaldo type of a striker who always want to play but we’ve now gotten another Eric Bekoe in the shape of Mbella, he doesn’t exert much energy to play but he’s always at the right place at the right time. Mbella is a sensational striker and his type of striking is rare in the system and I always tell my brother at the home that, I pray he doesn’t get injured until the season ends. Injuries worry players’ career, had it not been that, maybe I would be playing Real Madrid or any other top teams by now. 

In the season 2007/08, with a total of 17 goals in 23 matches, Bekoe was crowned the top scorer of the Premier League and also won the league with Kotoko as well as the Presidents Cup in the same year.

He also netted 10 goals in the CAF Confederation Cup which won him the top scorer’s gong before leaving the Porcupines to join Petrojet in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Mbella will be in action on Sunday when Kotoko play as guest to rivals Hearts of Oak at the Accra Sports Stadium in the Super Clash.

With eighteen games to play, can Mbella to the unthinkable breaking Bekoe’s 17-goal record and win the goal king award?