What's next for Rijkaard?

Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard (45) reacted for the first time to his dismissal earlier this week at a press conference yesterday and he did it with class, taking his part of the blame, not accusing anyone and concluding: "It has been an honour."

In an open letter in the official club magazine Barça Camp Nou the Dutchman today says goodbye to the fans, thanking them and the club for the support and wishing his successor all the best.

The future of Rijkaard is at this moment not clear and he didn't want to enter the question yesterday. Briefly linked with the Mexican national team (read more here), the English press is now putting his name forward as possible successor of Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson (read more here) or Chelsea manager Avram Grant (read more here).

Chelsea owner and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is said to be an admirer of Rijkaard and would dream of teaming him up with his former assistant Henk ten Cate. Chelsea chief scout Frank Arnesen is a close friend of Rijkaard.

Catalan sports paper Sport, who reports that Portuguese top club Benfica is also interested, claims that Rijkaard is seriously considering not to accept any of the offers he will receive but to take a sabbatical year. The Dutch manager would keep his residence in Barcelona and would spend his time watching a lot of football games and travelling, far from the daily media pressure.

pep's opinion:

it will be interesting to see where his career is going from here. wherever rijkaard will end up: if you can survive five years in Barcelona, you can survive anything anywhere. he made decisive mistakes over the last fifteen months, but i think it won't last long before we start to miss him.

Inter offers 40 million euro for Eto'o

Rumours that Barcelona forward and Cameroonian international Samuel Eto'o (27) could be for sale spread quickly in the past weeks and interested clubs are studying the possibility of bringing in the player whose contract expires in 2010.

Tottenham was the first Premier League club being linked with Eto'o (read more here). Tottenham forward Dimitar Berbatov (27) could be offered in exchange (read more here). Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that also other Premier League clubs, like Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City, are looking at the option to join the race.

But not only English clubs want to bring in the Cameroonian forward. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Fenerbahçe has made a formal offer (read more here) that has been rejected by the player. And Italian sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed yesterday that Inter is a preparing a 40 million euro° bid for Eto'o.

pep's opinion:

someone should really bring back some calm to the club, cause now it suddenly seems like every player (except for Messi, Iniesta and Bojan) is for sale. and that's not the way to be succesful next season. after two years without a trophy, we don't have time to build a whole different team. eto'o can only leave if you can find a decent player to replace him. and looking at his scoring record, I think that's just very hard to find. we have other priorities, I think you're just creating another problem by selling eto'o. a good chat with guardiola could do wonders.

Read more:

Eto'o for sale

Eto'o not giving credits to exit rumours

Eto'o could be Fenerbahçe star transfer

The swap deal as transfer strategy

This year it begun with Ronaldinho and Adriano (read more here), then there was Deco and Adriano (read more here), Henry and Altidore (read more here), Eto'o and Berbatov (read more here), Henry and Cesc (read more here), Zambrotta and Oddo (read more here), Eto'o and Adebayor (read more here) and I'm sure forgetting some: the swap deal rumours have arrived and they plan to stay until the end of August.

Catalan sports paper Sport even reports that Barcelona could make the swap deal a real transfer strategy this summer. It would allow the club to renew the squad without having to spend too much money.

The paper claims that Barcelona is considering an exchange of Barcelona centre forward Samuel Eto'o (27) and Inter centre forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (26), of Barcelona midfielder Xavi (28) and Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien (25) and of Barcelona central defender Carles Puyol (30) and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas (21).

pep's opinion:

it's nice for the papers, but you rarely see this happen. with three parties around the table, it's already difficult to find a deal. with four parties, it just gets harder.

Gudjohnsen wants to stay

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona attacker and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen (29) wishes to continue in Barcelona.

The player, who is convinced that he can contribute something to the team, therefore does not plan to talk with any clubs until Barcelona officially informs him that the club prefers him to leave in the summer. The paper says that Gudjohnsen, whose contract expires in 2010, has received an offer from a French club.

Read more:

Portsmouth and Newcastle in race for Gudjohnsen

Gudjohnsen could be the first to leave

Barcelona could throw in payers for Cesc

Crosas goes French / 25

Olympique Lyon won yesterday, 1-0 against Nancy. With only one game to go in the French Ligue 1, Lyon has a two-point lead on second-placed Bordeaux.

Barcelona loan out Marc Crosas (20) started on the bench and stayed there for 90 minutes.

Read everything on the performances of Marc Crosas in Lyon here