Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has reiterated that Samuel Eto'o remains available for selection despite previously stating the Cameroon international was not in his future plans.
Eto'o was one of three high-profile Barca players - Deco and Ronaldinho being the others - seemingly on their way out of the Nou Camp when Guardiola outlined his intention to revamp the squad for the new season.
Deco and Ronaldinho have since left the club for Chelsea and AC Milan respectively but Eto'o remains on the Barca payroll.
He is reportedly holding out for a move to one of Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter Milan or AC Milan but, as yet, no offer from that quartet has been forthcoming.
Eto'o started Barca's first friendly on their tour of the USA on the bench but came on at half-time and scored twice in a 5-2 defeat of Mexican side Chivas.
His contribution impressed Guardiola, who said afterwards: "He's with us and we'll use him. We know how good he is."
Thierry Henry is hopeful strike partner Eto'o will still be at the club when the new Primera Liga season gets under way at the end of August.
"Samuel is one of the best players in the world," said Henry.
"I don't know what's going on with the club because that's not my business, but Samuel is really important to us and always wants to win."
Defensive midfielder Rafael Marquez added: "Samuel has always had his place at Barca and he's working flat out which you have to respect."
Although Eto'o stole the limelight, Guardiola was pleased with his team's all-round display in Chicago.
He told the club's official website: "We've done a really good job, as Chivas are one of the best sides in Mexico.
"We scored a lot of goals and defensively we've worked hard, which is absolutely essential.
"The feeling you get is that no matter who plays, the team is working well and that gives you peace of mind at the start of the season.
"The only bad thing was the two goals we let in; that's a heads-up which we have to talk about."
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Comment 4 - 23 of 23
Barca, plz keep eto'o. He's arguably one of the best goal machine when he is in form
KEEP ETO'O
hes a good striker guardiola should rotate striker not use the same ones all the time
that was the reason why they missed out on cups last year
Yes, keep Eto'o! he is one of the best if not the best in the world! we definitely dont need any ade who?
Eto'o has proven he is arguably the best striker and finisher in the world. His work ethic can not be questioned. He was plagued by injuries for about 2 seasons but on his comeback last season he had close to 20 goals in almost as many games. In my book if he had a full season he may have notched more goals that this over hyped CR. But being the massive Barca fan i am i would like to see him stay and forget about adebayor and drogba, we don't need those pre madonnas in front our goal.
hello
people are prejudice b./c eto ius a alck man standing up for himself each time people try to discrimate against him
eto the best @#$%
Darlington J, persiandud_14:
First of all, I totally agree that Eto'o is one of the best strikers in the world. To say that he sucks is complete BS.
However, I'm pretty sure that persiandud_14 didn't take the skin colour of Eto'o into consideration when he wrote that he sucked! The other example that he used was Ronaldinho, who's not exactly white.
I don't know about you guys but every single discussion forum that I visit, there is always some truly racist a$$holes and some out-of-the-blue racist accusations, either being too sensitive or attempting to make the accused person look really bad. It's true that those racists deserve some a$$-whoopings but those who use this as a weapon are just as bad. Even if you're just being too sensitive about the skin colour of any one, including yourself, you're also a racist because you do pay attention to the skin colours.
yo persiandud_14 u need to shut the @#$% up. cuz u don't kno @#$% about the game or the players. how can u say eto'o sucks...eto'o is one of the best forward in europe. you guys don't give him credit because he is african if he was white or something he will bigger than wut he is. he is better than ronney, kean, babertov, and many more.
Eto'o scored 16 in 18 last season. By no means did he start every match.
OMG your @#$% playing full power against Chivas in a friendly. Eto'o sucks he played every match last season and scored 16, Ronaldinho barely started any and scored 9. The @#$% coach doesnt know WTF his doing he just wants to show off with sucky teams in friendlies wait till the season starts
ndalion you are right on.. noone has scored as consistently for barca in the pas 4 seasons as eto'o... please stay..
barca 4 life
wonder how many fools are privileged to have the internet at their disposal and have nothing better to say or worse still,nothing to say than say that Eto'o doesnt have technique! Jesus Christ! ask Real madrid,when eto;o would always score against them,ask chelsea,when jose mourinho just took over and suffered the only home loss in UCL! this was none but SAMUEL ETO'O. This guy had a 'bad' season last season coupled with injuries and still managed to net 20 goals,thats class. How many cold rooney score,oh sorry overated and overbloated ruineey!
Guardiola'd better retain the boy,i dont see anybody buying him anyway,he is smart to insist on a high pay,that'll put off potential unrealistic suitors like man city and tottenham.
since i became interested in soccer all star players has flop in some matches. etoo was no different in the match against manu so pple should not always relate to those few bad matches. eto'o is very good and i see he loves barca even though other clubs are interested in him. if sold to other club i think i'll stop watching soccer
since i became interested in soccer all star players has flop in some matches. etoo was no different in the match against manu so pple should not always relate to those few bad matches. eto'o is very good and i see he loves barca even though other clubs are interested in him. if sold to other club i think i'll stop watching soccer
well,i think is the best time for barca to make peace with samuel eto,o goals..because even ade,babatov,drogba,benzema,and many others can not compare with eto,o.despite one hard season with barcelona.he is the best striker in the world...so mr beer man pepe Guardiola,,wake up from sleeping and dont miss your oppotunity you crazy muther @#$%...i need this years champions leauge to keep with the catalan giants---if eto,o goes out from barcelona you will kiss my @#$% and the @#$% of barcelona supporters..idiota
You said you didn't want him, now you want him becos he came off the bench and netted two. You must get eagle's eye to see far.
are you guys @#$% crazy, no-one is stupid enough to buy eto'o at 30mil, with his wage demands thrown in, not inter, not milan, not chelsea, not manyoo. he'll stay at barca because he's too expensive and injury-prone. to say henry lacks technique is barmy. did you see eto'o in ucl semis in macnhseter? did he have the boots on the wrong feet? he has no technique, good a striker though he is.
Eto'o should just go to Manchester United. How wonderful would that be???
I agree with "ndalion"'s assesment especially regarding Henry not fittinig in .I think the reason is that Henry does NOT possess the necessary talent and ball skills to make his mark with Barca! However I have to disagree with "don zurich" regarding the Eto'o situation.I doubt if he will sign for less than 30 millions and definitely not for Tottenham or a Ligue1 club.He will probably end up in Italy.
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