‘A Rare Specimen:’ Internet Reacts To Eric Cantona’s Bizarre Punditry On PL Matchday 1

Manchester United icon Eric Cantona left fans rolling on the floor with his special punditry during the Premier League curtain raiser. Cantona was on panel duty for the fixture between Manchester United and Fulham on Saturday. Cantona looked super bored and restless throughout the preview show.

When asked about the Premier League title contenders Cantona simply said, ‘Nah’. He gave a similar response after being quizzed about the potential top-scorer in England’s top flight, replying with a vague, ‘We’ll see.’

Moments later, Cantona got up and walked off the set after being asked about the fans watching at home. Later, the segment’s video was shared by a fan on X (formerly Twitter).

Football fanatics have now reacted to the bizarre yet funny segment in the comments section with one of them saying, “Cantona is just a rare specimen. A Football Legend and apparently a great actor. His thinking is like his goals (From outside the box). That’s all.”

Another wrote, “I mean what do they expect, it’s Eric. He’s always been like this.”

One fan added, “Dude just wants to leave.”

Another jokingly added, “So is Eric Cantona Roy Kent or the other way round? (I think he lost a bet)”

A netizen highlighted that this particular segment was an advertisement and wrote, “This was posted as bait. It was fun tho, it was a script. An advert run by showmax.”

Before walking off the set, Eric Cantona delivered a special monologue before the camera, addressing the millions watching at home. As per GOAL, he said, “We call this the beautiful game, but how many people in this world don’t even own a television? What of them? How can we sell this [the Premier League] to them? The game should be everywhere. It cannot be stuck on the wall or just in a bar, no. It must fly. No one should believe the Premier League is ours. This marks the beginning. The revolution has begun.”

It was soon revealed that the whole thing was a skit prepared to promote an online subscription platform Showmax which holds the Premier League rights in Africa. South African entrepreneur Mike Sharman later wrote on X, “Showmax hijacked the entire Premier League feed with Eric Cantona to promote its mobile offering across Africa – the most affordable package on the planet. The most phenomenal stunt you’ll see in 2024.”

Speaking of the game, Manchester United emerged victorious over Fulham in their Premier League opener. Joshua Zirkee scored the solitary goal of the fixture at Old Trafford.