Samuel Eto'o has criticised a news website after it published a spoof interview in which he supposedly claimed that he was set to run in the 2018 Cameroon presidential election.
Jeune Afrique, a French-language pan-African weekly news outlet, published the story on Sunday as an April Fool's joke.
However, the story was picked up by at least one other major news website, France 24, and gained significant traction across the world.
Eto'o posted an immediate response on social media, claiming that the article made light of a delicate political situation in his country and reportedly threatened legal action if the story was not removed.
"As a Cameroonian, I am deeply respectful of the institutions of my country and those who embody them," the world-renowned striker wrote on Facebook.
"I therefore believe that the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon and the exercise of the supreme office are very important and cannot be discussed lightly.
"More seriously, the authors of this farce mocked the Anglophone crisis - a situation that causes desolation and mourning in my country.
"I think that the words attributed to my modest self under the guise of a supposed farce are absolutely reductive and denote a total lack of respect."
Eto'o has played for the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea during his illustrious career, and is currently plying his trade in Turkey with Konyaspor.
Giuseppe Labellarte
