New Barcelona coach and former Barcelona captain, Pep Guardiola, who succeeds Frank Rijkaard says Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o can leave the club, saying that the three are not part of his plans for next season.
"All of the players in the first-team squad last season are of a very high level [...] we are forming a squad With the technical secretary and Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto’o are not in our minds,"
Out of the three, Pep Guardiola says he would work with Ronaldino only if, “...he wants to be the player he was again [...] But the situation has deteriorated and the solution is to build a strong dressing room,”
This rules out any immediate possiblity of working with the Brazilian, whose absence as well as the recent departure of Giovani dos Santos to Spurs stands to leave Barcelona with a serious lack in the left flank. Guardiola, however, dismissed questions about bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).
The 37 year old former Barcelona midfielder, Guardiola, also confirmed that his immediate worry is to find a striker to complement Thierry Henry and Bojan Krkic. "I am looking for a new number nine, but we need one to complement Henry and Bojan Krkic. I want the three to feel like first-team starters."
Where from here
Meanwhile, the three players have been linked to various teams in Italy and England.
Deco; Chelsea and Inter Milan. Ronaldino; AC Milan, Chelsea and Manchester. Eto’o; Milan, Tottenham.
