Cameroon's ex-football captain Norbert Owona, who has been homeless for two years, has thanked Samuel Eto'o Fils for promising him a new house.

He told the BBC that the ex-Barcelona and Chelsea striker had recently visited him on a trip home.

Eto'o, who now plays for Qatar Sports Club, heard about the 67-year-old's plight after a documentary showed him sleeping on the streets of Douala, the main city in Cameroon.

Owona is now in hospital and waiting to have surgery on a hernia.

BBC Pidgin's Leocadia Bongben in the capital, Yaounde, said the former Indomitable Lion sounded weak but grateful on the phone.

"Eto'o Fils is a very kind man, very kind," he told her.

He added that the 37-year-old football star, a four-time African footballer of the year, had given him about $1,000 (£750) as well as promising to give him a new house.

"I have been homeless with no food to eat," he said.

The visit took place on Sunday 19 August at a hospital in the city of Douala, where Owona had been admitted after the documentary aired on Cameroon's Equinoxe Television earlier this month.

It showed footage of the former Union of Douala player sleeping rough and explaining that he had spent all his savings on medical treatment for his family.