Eto'o will remain at Barcelona

Aug 12, 2008 - 7:53 PM BARCELONA (Ticker) - Samuel Eto'o will remain a Barcelona player for the coming season, coach Pep Guardiola confirmed on Tuesday.

Eto'o was one of three high-profile Barca players who were told earlier this summer that they would be allowed to leave the Nou Camp, the others being Ronaldinho and Deco.

But while Ronaldinho has joined AC Milan and Deco moved to Chelsea, Eto'o has remained at Barca and, after impressing at pre-season, Guardiola has decided that the Cameroon international has a future at the Catalan giants.

The 27-year-old Eto'o, who has been a prolific goal scorer since joining Barca in 2004 from Real Mallorca, had been linked to a number of clubs this summer after being told he could go.

However, no deal was forthcoming with any interested party and, after netting five times in four pre-season friendlies with Barca, coach Guardiola has opted to give Eto'o a second chance.

"I know that I said on my first day that I did not count on him, but I also said that I would treat him like any other player," said Guardiola. "His behavior and attitude in Scotland and the United States have made me decide that he will remain with us. And, as well as that, he is a player with immense talent."

With Eto'o looking set to leave the club, Barca were linked with a host of other strikers this summer, including Emmanuel Adebayor, David Villa, David Trezeguet, Karim Benzema and Dimitar Berbatov.

However, Guardiola denied any suggestion that the decision to keep Eto'o had anything to do with the club's lack of success in bringing in a replacement.

"The negotiations to sign a 'number nine' were stopped some weeks ago following a decision by me and Txiki (Begiristain, sporting director)," the new Barca coach added. "Before bringing players in you must let players go and as everything was going well I decided that it was not necessary to sign anybody and everything would remain the same."

Guardiola also denied that keeping Eto'o was because he had doubts about his other senior striker Thierry Henry.

Frenchman Henry, who has recently been linked with a move back to England with Manchester United, struggled to hit top form during his first campaign with Barca and has netted just once in preseason.