Gudjohnsen still thinking about future

Asked about the rumours linking Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (30) with several French clubs (read more here), the player's father and agent Arnor Gudjohnsen has said in an interview with French sports paper Aujourd'hui Sport that the player is stil didn't decide on his future:

"Lyon and Marseille didn't make contact so far. France is still an option but at the moment there really has been no contact at all. And Eidur still hasn't left Barcelona. He has given himself some time to reflect."

Read more:
Greek, Turkish and Russian interest for Gudjohnsen
Gudjohnsen could return to the Premier League
Marseille and Galatasaray in for Gudjohnsen

Marseille denies Gudjohnsen interest

Asked about the rumours linking Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (30) with a move to Olympique Marseille (read more here), Marseille president Pape Diouf has denied the interest in an interview with Monaco radio station RMC:

"There is no contact at all with Gudjohnsen."


Read more:
Greek, Turkish and Russian interest for Gudjohnsen
Barcelona planning six transfers
Marseille and Galatasaray in for Gudjohnsen

Marseille and Galatasaray in for Gudjohnsen

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that, besides several English Premier League clubs, Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (30) is also followed by French club Marseille and Greek club Panathinaikos.

Barcelona wants to sell Gudjohnsen, whose contract expires next year, during the summer transfer window and is willing to listen to offers.

Turkish newspaper Zaman meanwhile claims that Galatasaray is also interested in Gudjohnsen. The Icelandic player would be on top of the wish list of new Galatasaray manager Frank Rijkaard and it's believed that officals from the Turkish club will meet with Gudjohnsen's agent this week.

Read more:
Greek, Turkish and Russian interest for Gudjohnsen
Barcelona planning six transfers
Gudjohnsen could return to the Premier League

Caceres rejects Marseille interest

French sports paper L'Equipe unconfirmedly claims that Barcelona central defender and Uruguay international Martín Cáceres (22) has rejected an offer by French club Olympique Marseille.

New Olympique Marseille manager Didier Deschamps would have contacted Cáceres to sound him out on a possible transfer but Cáceres would immediately have refused all negotiations by making clear that he wants to stay at Barcelona next season.

Read more:
Caceres doesn't want to leave on loan
Olympiacos offer for Caceres rejected
Caceres: "Guardiola makes us all feel equal"

Talks with Lyon on Gudjohnsen transfer

Catalan sport paper Sport claims that Olympique Lyon is interested in Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (30).

The French club would already have met with Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain to discuss a possible transfer. Lyon is willing to pay a small transfer fee and Barcelona isn't planning to play it hard. Barcelona sources also told the paper that there's no intention to include Gudjohsen in another transfer.

Gudjohnsen would have accepted that he will leave this summer. He would like to move to another league in order to get more playing minutes. The Icelandic has been contacted by Lyon and has asked for some time to think before he takes a final decision on his future. Several other clubs and agents would already have made enquiries about the player and Barcelona has given Gudjohnsen the total freedom of choice in deciding his future club.

The attacker, who was a transfer target for French club Olympique Marseille last December, would have a preference to return to the English Premier League because of sporting and non-sporting reasons. British tabloid The Daily Mirror meanwhile claims that it's very likely that Gudjohnsen, who rejected previous offers by English clubs, will end up in the English Premier League.

Read more:
Everton interested in Gudjohnsen
Talks on future Gudjohnsen in the summer
Blackburn Rovers interested in Gudjohnsen

Marseille goalkeeper Mandanda on shortlist

French football weekly paper Foot Transferts claims that Barcelona is interested in Marseille goalkeeper and French international Steve Mandanda (24) (read more here).

A Barcelona scout would have recently watched Mandanda in action. The report was positive and Barcelona would already have informed the player's entourage about their interest. Barcelona executives are expected to contact the French club shortly to hear more about the contract situation of the goalkeeper.

Mandanda would be part of a five-name shortlist of possible substitutes of Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés that also includes Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (31), Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez (27), Fiorentina goalkeeper Sébastien Frey (29) and Valladolid goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo (19).

Read more:
Marseille wants to sign Keita next summer
Manchester United wants to sign Valdes
Marseille goalkeeper Mandanda followed

Watch a video of Mandanda here:

Eto'o: "I already made a decision on my future"

Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o gave an interview to French sports site Sportweek.





When invited by Sportweek to put together an ideal team that didn't include French players, French national team coach Raymond Domenech chose you as centre forward, together with Wayne Rooney. Does that kind of recognition means something to you?
It's of course a great honour if someone like Raymond Domenech, who knows the game of football and what he's talking about, names me in that kind of things. It's an enormous recognition but I don't conclude from that that I'm the best striker in the world. I'm Samuel Eto'o and each day that goes by, I do everything to reach the highest possible. That's all.

You sometimes say that France and Cameroon have a similar place in your heart. Where does this love for France come from?
Where I live, in Cameroon, France is considered an ideal place. There's more, when a player leaves the country for example to go and play in Italy, people say that he leaves "for France". As if France and Europe are the same thing. The language of course plays an important part in this. As I'm concerned, France even means a little more.

Explain that to us...
I arrived in France when I was an adolescent. I participated in a youth tournament in Avignon and I took advantage of it to join an aunt who lived in the Paris region. I stayed a few months with her, in Bobigny.

That was a happy period in your life?
Not really. I didn't have the right documents. I couldn't live and move freely. And football, that meant everything to me, didn't bring me anything good either. I tried to present myself at a draft organised by Paris Saint-Germain, but since I didn't have documents, I was refused at the gate. I was also refused by le Havre and I think I also went to Cannes, but it didn't work out. After nine months, I returned to Cameroon.

You blame France that they didn't received you well?
How could I blame France? I didn't have documents. There are rules in France and they are made to be respected. No, honestly, I don't have any regrets. If my fate would have turned in another direction then, I maybe would have become a Frenchman, and I maybe would have played in the team of Raymond Domenech. Or maybe not.

From the team of Barcelona, people first think about Leo Messi or, over the last years, Ronaldinho. You feel underestimated in France?
I don't think so. And even if that would be the case, that in fact would be a good thing. I spend a lot of time in Paris, I have an apartment there, I have family there and my wife and my children lived there for quite a while before they joined me in Barcelona... In Paris, I can breathe normally. I can walk on the streets without being recognized the whole time. In Barcelona, that's impossible.

You plan to end your career with a French club?
I've already said that if that would be the case, I would like to play at Olympique Marseille. But I don't think it will happen. In contrast, I wish to end my career at Mallorca, where everything started for me. It's there where I launched my career and where I took one of the most important decisions in my life. After having gained some fame there, I could choose between going to England, to Italy, returning to Real Madrid or joining Barcelona. I didn't make a mistake. But I didn't only make excellent decisions in my life...

What's the baddest decision you've ever made?
That has to do with my private life.

Your contract with Barcelona expires in 2010. Are you on the verge of taking a difficult decision: staying with Barça or leaving the club, maybe this year already?
No, that's easy. I actually already made my decision. But I cannot tell anything at this moment.

In general, when one talks like this in February, that's because there's already a deal on a transfer...
That's what you say.

Could Karim Benzema join Barcelona next season to, who knows, replace you?
Benzema is one of those players who can play at every club in the world. So why not Barça? But we also could play together...


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the second part of the interview here in the coming days, with Eto'o talking -among other things- about Olympique Lyon, the next oppnent in the Champiosn League, and about his mobile phone collection.


Read more:
Eto'o wants to negotiate renewal in the summer
Benzema not a transfer target anymore
Eto'o: "Every goal gives you more confidence"

Eto'o wants to negotiate renewal in the summer

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona wants to renew the contract of Barcelona forward and Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o (27), whose current contract expires in 2010, or sell the player in the summer.

Barcelona's first option is the renewal of Eto'o but the club doesn't want the negotiations to drag on and is keeping an eye on the market in case a renewal deal wouldn't be found.

Eto'o would also want to renew the contract but wants to focus on football first. The player's agent Josep Maria Mesalles is quoted as saying that they don't want to talk in the coming months: "I already said before, and Eto'o has confirmed it, that we will talk about the future at the end of the season.

This is not to put some more pressure on the club or to gain more time. The player is happy, Barcelona has still a lot to fight for and I think that at this moment the most wise thing is to focus all efforts on trying to win the three trophies that are still in play. When all this comes to an end, that will be the moment to negotiate."

Asked about the future of Eto'o, the player's brother David Eto'o said in an interview with Catalan radio station Onda Cero that the Cameroonian won't leave the club: "The fans can be calm because me brother is and will continue to be a Barça player. If the club wants, I think he will renew. If the club doesn't want it, that's when he'll start to look for another club."

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Eto'o plans to ask for a pay rise of a little one million euro net, which would make him earn as much as Messi is doing at this moment. Barcelona would like to reach an agreement before the start of next season. Madrid news agency EFE claims that Barcelona will wait until the end of the season to see what will happen but that the club is already looking for alternatives.

Asked about his future, Eto'o meanwhile repeated earlier this week in an interview with French radio station Europe 1 that he doesn't exclude playing in France one day: "I still adore Paris Saint-Germain, even though I've always said that I would like to play with Marseille for one season. If one day I decide to come to France, I would like it to be at Marseille but why not somewhere else? But I won't deny that, given the current circumstances, it will difficultly happen."

Read more:
Inter wants to sign Eto'o in the summer
Eto'o postpones renewal negotiations
Madrid presidential candidate approached Eto'o

Bojan sounded out by European top clubs

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona forward and Spanish youth international Bojan Krkic (18) has rejected in January loan or permanent offers by Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam (read more here), German club Hoffenheim and French club Marseille.

Bojan, who has a contract with Barcelona until 2013, has decided to be patient and wait for more playing time at Barcelona.

During the winter transfer window, several European top clubs also would have sounded out the Catalan striker about joining them in the future. Chelsea, Manchester United and Inter Milan would be among the interested clubs that are keeping an eye on Bojan and have contacted him.

Read more:
Barcelona rejects loaning Bojan to RS Belgrade
Bojan: "I don't regret missing the Euro"
The alphabet of Bojan

Agent Keita denies Marseille talks

Asked about the rumours linking Barcelona midfielder and Mali international Seydou Keita (28) with asummer move to Marseille (read more here), the player's agent Pascal Boisseau has denied in an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien that the midfielder considers an exit:

"The whole story is totally false. I have indeed been in contact with Marseille about some players regarding the winter transfer period, but Seydou wasn't discussed. And I don't see a reason for him to change anyway: he's playing with Barcelona, the best club of the planet! Bluntly speaking, it would just be ridiculous if we would be looking for a transfer at this moment."

Keita is also quoted by the French paper as rejecting the chance of going back to France: "Olympique Marseille already was interested in me when I played my last season at Lens, but now I don't want to return to France."

Read more:
Marseille goalkeeper Mandanda followed
Already pre-agreement with Keita in December
Marseille wants to sign Keita next summer

Marseille goalkeeper Mandanda followed

Spanish football site Fichajes claims that Barcelona is interested in Olympique Marseille goalkeeper and French international Steve Mandanda (23).

French reports would claim that Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola wants to sign a substitute for Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés and that the club is closely following Mandanda. The Barcelona board would already be studying the option of transferring the Congolese-born Frenchman.

Read more:
Do We Buy? Goalkeeper.
Marseille wants to sign Keita next summer
Barcelona keeps on scouting Diego Lopez

Marseille wants to sign Keita next summer

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that French club Marseille is interested in Barcelona midfielder and Mali international Seydou Keita (28).

Marseille wants to return to the top of European football and the transfer of Keita next summer would in that perspective be one of the priorities.

The Malian midfielder, who played for Marseille in the 1999-2000 season, should become one of the key players and leaders of the new project.

The French club would be willing to pay a considerable transfer fee and wants to make Keita, whose signed for Barcelona last summer and whose contract expires in 2012, an offer he could difficultly refuse.

Read more:
Already pre-agreement with Keita in December
Keita: "Every player should feel important"
Eto'o wants to end career at Marseille and Mallorca

Eto'o wants to end career at Marseille and Mallorca

Asked about his contract expiring in 2010 (read more here), Barcelona forward and Cameroonian international Samuel Eto'o (27) has said in an interview with French sports paper L'Equipe that he wants to play with French club Marseille at the end of his career:

"I dream about playing for Marseille one day, even being a Parisian. I have an apartment in Paris. I grew up there and still often spend time there. France is like Cameroon for me. So at the end of my career, when my body won't allow me to play at the highest level anymore, I maybe will play a last season in France. And also one season at Mallorca. I owe this to them."

Read more:

Lyon again looking at Eto'o option
Eto'o: "I have no intention of leaving"
Eto'o first choice striker for Milan

Ex-Barça: Christanval without a club

Having been released by Fulham after an injury plagued 2007-2008 season, former Barcelona player Philippe Christanval (30) is at this moment still available on a free transfer.

Christanval had been playing for English Premier League club Fulham since 2005 but his expiring contract wasn't renewed this summer.

Arriving from French club AS Monaco in the summer of 2001, Philippe Christanval played two seasons for Barcelona. The French central defender returned to the French league in 2003 joining Olympique Marseille.

Read more:
Ex-Barça: Rochemback to Sporting
Ex-Barça: Frank de Boer to Dutch national team
Ex-Barça: Ernesto Valverde to Olympiacos

Gudjohnsen wants to stay

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (29), whose contract expires in 2010, doesn't want to leave Barcelona this summer.

Gudjohnsen is delighted with the arrival of new manager Josep Guardiola and thinks that he can contribute to the new project. The player would have informed his entourage that he doesn't have any plans to move and that he wants to win a major trophy with Barcelona.

Besides the sporting reasons, Gudjohnsen and his family feel very comfortable living in Barcelona. One of Gudjohnsen's sons plays at the Barcelona youth acadmey.

Barcelona board member Rafael Yuste nevertheless made clear in an interiew with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that Barcelona still wants to sell the player during this transfer window and hopes to be able to announce something in the comming days: "We're not hurrying things but sports director Txiki Begiristain and football director Raul Sanllehí are looking at the issue with determination and our intention is to find a new club for Gudjohnsen where he can be happy again."

Madrid sports tabloid Marca claims that Barcelona hasn't yet received an offer for Gudjohnsen. Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona has been contacting several agents around Europe but that wouldn't have led to any concrete result. Barcelona would even be willing to consider a loan deal in which Barcelona would pay a part of the player's salary.

Sport nevertheless claims that Marseille could be interested in the striker if Djibril Cissé would leave the French club. Marseille manager Eric Gerets will only accept an exit of Cissé if the club would replace him wth a first-class player, with Gudjohnsen being on top of the list.

Read more:
Gudjohnsen likely to leave this summer
Gudjohnsen option as centre forward
Portsmouth favourites to sign Gudjohnsen