Days after being honoured for his persistent stance against racism, Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o revealed on Thursday how he was recently stereotyped in a jewellery store in London.

Eto’o, who was honoured by the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation on Monday, described how a saleswoman became suspicious of him after he asked to see a £10,000 wristwatch he wanted to buy.

“I asked the saleswoman – who was also black like me – ‘Could you show me that watch please? First, I saw her turn and look at her coworkers like, ‘Uh, what should I do?”

“Eventually, she let me see the watch. I looked at it and said, ‘OK, I’ll buy it.’ I took out my credit card and when she went to go run it through the machine, she came back and said that it was declined.”

“I asked her, ‘Was it declined or did you not want it to be accepted?’ because this has happened to me many times and she told me, ‘No, it was declined.'”

Eto’o went on to describe how his brother wondered why the saleswoman was treating Eto’o with suspicion, a juncture in which the saleswoman then admitted it was due to “some Nigerians in the store the other day who came with fake credit cards.”

Eto’o eventually used his brother’s credit card to purchase the watch, before telling the saleswoman and the jewellery store’s security man – a Senegalese with whom Eto’o took a picture with – that he would reveal the incident when next he is interviewed by media.

The former Barcelona, Chelsea and Everton striker concluded by stating “I don’t think she’s a racist person, but she stereotyped all black people as ‘those people’.”