Liverpool's Manager, Rafa Benitez may have quietly backed down on a move to sign highly rated Barcelona star, Samuel Eto'o.



Strong indications, suggest that Liverpool have dropped out of the race to obtain Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o after deciding the strike ace is beyond their reach. For weeks, Liverpool have been at the forefront of the Eto'o bid and tabled a cash offer for the forward who has been highly sought after in Europe. The offer received no tangible response from Barcelona.


News of this cash offer echoed across Europe and attracted Italian giants, AC Milan, who are also interested in the Barca marksman. This made Milan swing into action in response to the English move, digging in through their official, Galliani in the famed Mission Impossible adventure. Barcelona classified Galliani's bid method as a distraction.


Liverpool have been more visible than other Premiership teams in their attempts to win over the Cameroonian from Cam Nou. Other Premiership clubs intrested in Eto'o are Manchester United and Arsenal. AC Milan and InterMilan are representing interests from the Italian angle.


Liverpool's decision to back down may be influenced by the mindset which is gaining ground at Camp Nou to tighten its hold on players it considers pre-requisites to its success next season, and attempts are being made to solidfy the squad especially after the shocking result in the weekend La Liga encounter with Espanyol lent more concrete on the need to have a more secure team.


A big and unlikely IF hangs on the possibilty of Barcelona even agreeing in the first place to sell their attacking gem.


Other than Barca's organisational drive, Liverpool's exit may also be attributed to cashflow. The lords at Anfield may be too constrained to disburse Eto'o's real worth, which is no doubt ranging upwards from the 50 Million Euro mark.


As proof of this, Liverpool have considered signing Villareal's former Man U player, Diego Forlan as an alternative to Eto'o.

Abidal attempts to become master of his own affairs as second try to secure La Liga transfer is in the offing.

In the premiership, Newcastle move in to snatch Barca's Giuly from Marseille's grasp.



French defender, Eric Abidal has decided to play a more prominent role in determining his own destiny as the strong defender has set up a successful meeting with his club officials at Lyon.


Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, the Head of Communications at Lyon, Olivier Blanc, expressed less hostility at his earlier stance against Barcelona's offer. Blanc said:

The meeting with Eric went smoothly. We earlier said no to Barcelona because their offer was not in good taste to us. They need to review their offer and return so we can commence talks again.

A possible compromise using the good old method of reaching the half way mark may be adopted in the bid, so that Barcelona step up their offer to around 14 million Euros from their last bid of 9 million Euros while Lyon step down to 14 million Euros or thereabout from their price of 20 Million Euros.
Fair enough.


Giuly Courted By Newcastle


Meanwhile, Barcelona's creative midfielder, Ludovic Giuly has reportedly received an offer from Newcastle to where the black and white stripes of the Premiership side next season.


Giuly's commercial representative, Sebastien Riera, while speaking to Sunday Sun, revealed the interest of Newcastle in the former Monaco ace. Riera said:

Ludo is aware of Newcastle's interest.

Though Newcastle are looking at alternatives such as Bolton's El-Hadji Diouf, Barca's Giuly is their priority.

Argentine prodigy speaks on post-Espanyol media frenzy shaking up the football world about the role he played at the weekend la Liga game.



Barcelona's latest sensation, Lionel Messi has sought to further clarify issues surrounding him after the gifted forward generated much controversy by virtue of his on-the-field acts during the dramatic Barcelona-Espanyol cracker.


The youthful forward is well aware that many have compared the controversial incident which generated the first goal to a past incident involving his idol, Diego Maradona's at the Mexico '86 World Cup in the match against England. Some of the points of speculation are that Lionel intentionally sets out to do the things Maradona did during his active days on the pitch.

Messi disputes this fact, saying:

I don't set my mind on trying to repeat what Maradona has done before. Football is an instinctive game and these things happen. Soccer actions are not pre-planned but are produced right there on the field of play.
There is no use comparing me to Maradona. He is simply a unique player.

On the events that unfolded during the last minutes of the match, Messi says:

Recently, we have not been lucky at the last minutes of our games. We always play well but seem to tire out in the last minutes of the encounter. This could be the cause.

On Barca's chances of retaining the La Liga, the Argentine rave is optimistic:

There is still a game left and Mallorca can get a draw against Madrid or even beat them. Anything is possible. We on our part have to stay hopeful and work hard.

Cameroonian Star Samuel Eto'o keeps faith with Barcelona's committment to the poor and needy.



That Barcelona was chosen by UNICEF for partnership was not just by random selection. The club and its players personify the International Organisation's philosophies.


Club star striker, Samuel Eto'o examplified this when, prior to the Espanyol match, he sought high and low to get a terminally ill 10-year old child to be close to him always and toured with the Barca squad.


The sick child watched the Espanyol match live and went on to be with the Barca team, attending their training session on Sunday morning and monitoring Coach Rijkaard's work-out techniques.


Perhaps this can encourage the youngster to fight his illness with more resolve and one day become a Coach like Frank or a goal poacher like his idol, Samuel Eto'o.

After the brief defensive lapse that saw to the Espanyol equalizer, Barcelona may strongly consider re-enforcement.



Gabriel Heinze, Man U's Argentine defender who is considered as one of the best full backs in the world, has not hidden his love and admiration for FC Barcelona. The talented player has sounded it loud and clear for the second time in just one week, where his interest lies and that his next destination will not wander too far from Camp Nou.


The defender spoke to Sunday Mirror, saying:

I know that some clubs are interested in me, but I have decided to leave this subject on stand-by for the moment.
My head is with the Argentina team to play the Copa America. After that tournament, I will make decisions about my career.
Barcelona are a super-club, like Manchester United. If a formal offer is tabled I'll need to study it calmly.

Heinze may also be secretly nursing a desire to go to a place where chances of winning the Champions league next season may be higher. He says:

It was a pain to fail in the Champions League Semi-Final against Milan.