How did Eto’o avoid Barca exit when ‘old guard’ Deco and Ronaldinho had to leave?

As Barca’s new manager, Pep Guardiola reshuffled his team heavily in 2008. Two stars, Ronaldinho and Deco, left. But there was another player he wanted to leave, namely Samuel Eto’o.

However, the Cameroonian was eager to prove himself to the new boss. His hard work in pre-season and, as Daily Mail puts it, ‘some lobbying from two Carles Puyol and Xavi’ made Guardiola change his mind.

“Guardiola sat Eto’o down and told him: ‘I like your work-rate. I value your pressing. If you play and train like you have been then you stay’,” Graham Hunter wrote in his book, Barca.

Eto’o left Barca for Inter in 2009 in a swap deal that involved Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The question is: do you think it was a smart move for Joan Laporta to let Samuel go?