It is looking increasingly likely that Ronaldinho has played his last game for Barcelona. Marca reported a couple of weeks back that he is no longer fit for training due to burning the midnight oil. Deco apart (and the two of them usually are in training), Ronaldinho is said to have few friends left in the dressing room. Barça stand by their claim that Ronaldinho is injured, despite Sala Martin’s controversial radio interview last week, in which the club official stated that indiscipline was the real reason behind some notable absences in the squad.
Roberto Carlos recently said that his current club Fenerbahce would be very interested in signing Ronaldino. But the Turks, who are are rumoured to have 180m € to spend on new players, may now be tempted to splash about half that amount on Samuel Eto’o, according to reports today.
Marca also reported a fortnight ago that Rafa Benitez is favoured by Joan Laporta to replace Frank Rijkaard next season. Again, the Catalans deny there are any moves afoot to replace their head coach.
But it feels like the end of an era. The only big surprise would be if there were no major changes at the Camp Nou this summer. The current team is reminiscent of Real Madrid’s “Galactico period”, with loads of star individuals failing to put it together as a team on a regular basis. Barcelona could still redeem their season by winning the European Cup but I doubt it.
I’ve been saying for a while now that I expect Barça to go out to one of the top English clubs and see no reason to change that view. From a purist point of view I’d like to be wrong, but I think Barca’s shortage of physical presence in many areas will be exposed by the pace and power of Manchester United, and if not then Liverpool or Chelsea.
There is some good news for the future with the emergence of Bojan in particular. The other week he became one of the youngest players to score in Europe’s major tournament. Another emerging talent at the Nou Camp is 17-year-old Gai Assulin. He is yet to make his league debut for the first team, but the Israeli youngster made an appearance for country against Chile in March. The player has rather predictably been dubbed the “new Messi”, even though old Messi is barely out of his teens. They are of similar style however, as this video on Assulin’s website show.
