Guardiola's statements about Eto'o convinced you?

Two journalists of Madrid sports tabloid As commented on Guardiola's decision to let Samuel Eto'o leave.





Paco: Yes
What I cannot understand is what Laporta did, paying 50 millions plus Eto'o and the loan of Hleb. But the exit of Eto'o doesn't surprise me, it's something we all saw coming. Guardiola already tried to throw him out last season, but they didn't find a buyer with a serious offer. We can discuss if Guardiola makes a mistake by letting go the goalscorer of the Barça's last two Champions league finals, but when the reasons are personal, outsiders should only listen. One of the obligations of a group leader is to remove someone who he thinks could cause conflicts.


Lama: No
It seems poor that a coach puts his feelings and emotions above the interests of a club. Guardiola needs to know that Barça is the most important thing and not the fact of him has a good feeling about Eto'o or not. What if Barcelona's next coach has a good feeling about Eto'o? It's incomprehensible that that a coach puts his own personal interests above those of the club. With this gesture, Guardiola has shown that the "bad coach" virus already caught him: to think that football turns around him.

What to do to stay

by Xavier Muñoz
for El Mundo Deportivo



The day is coming nearer that someone leaves Barça and explains for once and for all what the hell this player has done for the club wanting to get rid of him each summer despite having scored a bunch of goals.

Until that happens, you have to imagine this player walking around in the Camp Nou with a flame thrower or something like that, because if it's just about being weird, being jealous, being selfish, being a prima donna, being a troublemaker, half of the star players of the top clubs would be jobless.

Seen from the outside, it's far more remarkable that other players can stay in the squad year after year while their only known achievement is to be so discrete that most of the time you don't notice them, even when they're out on the pitch.

Barça turns again to Forlan...

by Alfredo Relaño
for As



I have been told that Barça is again turning to the option of Forlán, and this doesn't surprise me. Valencia has decided to ask an impossible fee for Villa, 55 millions, something Barça is not willing to pay, as Madrid wasn't either. Forlán, on the other hand, has a clause of 36 millions, which is also a lot of money, but less. That's a sum Barça could pay. By squeezing a bit, but the can get there.

Villa has two advantages over Forlán: he's Spanish and he's younger. Forlán is 30 years old, an age which makes one think twice about the 36 millions, but he has always has taken care of himself and it's not very risky to predict that he'll have a long career. And he's at his peak.

The underlying problem is that you can't really count anymore on Eto'o. He has one year left, he doesn't allow a sale, he doesn’t want to renew, he doesn't pick up the phone when the president calls and the last thing we knew about him was a press conference full of insults by his agent. At the beginning of next year, Eto'o will take part in the African Cup of Nations, which will give him the chance to show himself to the world. At the end of the season, he'll look for a new contract, being free.

Behind him, there's only Bojan, whom we have still doubts on. For Guardiola, it’s a difficult situation having to start the season without a centre forward he really believes in. And this can now only be solved, at least in my opinion, by Forlán.

Poor Villa!

by Pablo López
for Marca



When an employee thinks that his time at a firm has ended, that he has higher objectives and that he cannot fulfil them in his current environment, when he loses his trust in his bosses, when, in short, he's not comfortable at his working place, the firm needs to make it possible for him to leave.

I'm referring, my friends, to David Villa and Valencia, but this reasoning could be used for every football player when some conditions are met:

a) that he has given his best for the team, that he has been an irreproachable professional,
b) that he will leave a considerable amount of money in the coffers of his clubs,
c) that, in effect, it's a valued player and that there are big offers for him,
d) and that, like I said, he wants to take on a new professional challenge.

It's obvious that David Villa meets all of them. But there's even more. If we put ourselves in his place, we would end up having the irrefutable feeling that, while being one of the best strikers in the world whom almost every club would want to have in their team, he could again spend one more season at a team that doesn't seem to have a clear course.

This will hurt the valencianistas but their team is adrift. And I'm not only talking about the giant debts but also about the strong feeling of improvisation, lack of leadership, deceit, lies, of "no problem, we'll solve that tomorrow". Honestly, it's no surprise that David Villa is like crazy about wanting to leave.

It's true that he signed last year a contract renewal including the corresponding economic upgrade, but that doesn't mean a lot when you're on the brink of ruin. It doesn't matter if he goes to Madrid or Barça or Milan or United, but Spain's number 7 will do the impossible to go to another place.

Taking into account that he has said several times that he doesn't want to leave Spain and that Madrid has already signed Benzema instead of him, the only real option that Villa has on the table is Barça. By god, I hope it's a tempting one.

Villa cannot offer more to Valencia. He has already given them prestige and goals. Now it's the club's turn to give him the opportuity to leave. 40 millions is a reasonable price for someone who wants to leave. Valencia has the chance to show they're a gentlemen's club. Villa deserves it...