FC Barcelona's right winger Giuly has revealed that he will not leave the Club. The “Equipe Tricolore” international rejected the opportunity to move on and is determined to fight for his place in Rijkaard's team. Rijkaard is happy for Giuly to stay at the club and he believes the player will play an important part in the defence of the League title and challenge for the Champions-League crown.


Ludovic Giuly was linked with a departure from Camp Nou during the January transfer window. His former club AS Monaco and Turkish team Galatasaray Istanbul had made lucrative offers and further French clubs Olympique Lyon, Olympique Marseille and Girondins Bordeaux all considered bidding for the services of the player. All these Clubs felt there would be a chance to lure the unsettled player away from the Nou Camp, after the winger's place in the side was no longer secure with the emergence of young Argentine talent Lionel Messi despite some excellent performances and important goals this season.


However, Giuly intends to see out the remainder of his contract with the Spanish champions and rejected all offers in order to remain with the Catalan giants. "I have had some offers but I do not want to leave", he stated in an interview. "I still have a year left on my contract and I am playing for the best club in the world. I feel great and I am only thinking about playing for Barça. So, why should I leave? I talked to our coach Frank Rijkaard and he is very happy with me and he told me that he did not want me to join another club."

Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has confirmed he has no intention of letting Ludovic Giuly move on. "I have no desire to let him leave," Rijkaard told L'Equipe Magazine. "He is a very professional and an important player for our team. I trust him!"


The France regular also laughed off a possible rivalry with team-mate Messi, insisting that the young winger is one of the greatest talents in the world and does not detract him from his own goals. Giuly stated:

"I have to admit that it is more difficult for me now but I am training very hard to be able to play and to help the team win trophies. I have no problem with Lionel Messi. I am here to play and there are many great players in this fantastic squad. This is normal when you are playing for the biggest club in the world. Messi is a great player and is playing very well at the moment. He is a quality player and is only 18 years old. I think that he is much stronger than Robinho"

Giuly has made 16 starts for Barcelona this season, scoring five goals.


My Opinion: Giuly is a great player and very important for the Barça team at the moment. But I can not see him wasting his talent on the bench once a big star replacement for Larsson arrives in the summer. With talk of players such as Arsenal star Thierry Henry, Europeans leading goal scorer Luca Toni or last years La Liga goal-getter Diego Forlan, it makes sense for him to rethink his position and we might have to let him go at the end of the season.