The business of business is business, a.k.a. “What’s the deal, Eto’o and Yaya?”

By: Kevin | October 10th, 2008

Didn’t Joan Laporta lose a briefcase?

Now, we aren’t saying this is it….but if it was, what do you suppose it might contain? Plans for the future? His after-Barca hopes and dreams, for when his term expires? Or an operational document titled “Stirring Stuff Up While Keeping the Customers Satisfied.”

There’s some stuff going on right now in Barca-land, a happy place that is seeing storm clouds gathering on the horizon….

Or not.

Remember these two names: Toure Yaya and Samuel Eto’o. Here’s the deal:

Everyone’s favorite human wall, Toure Yaya (yes, it used to be Yaya Toure….so blame his wife for the switch) is getting antsy. Or is he. Yaya’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, has fired a warning shot of sorts across the Blaugrana bow. The essence of the nattering is that if his man doesn’t get first-team footy, and I don’t mean yesterday, he’s going to follow up on preliminary negotiations with the likes of Juventus, who are rumored to have tabled a 5-year, 3.8 million Euro deal for the Cote d’Ivoirean defensive midfielder.

“Yaya would prefer to stay, he likes being a player at Barcelona,” said Seluk. “But if he does not play, it is likely we will negotiate with other clubs. He is 25 years old, and cannot be on the bench watching others play.”

“Toure is a professional, working hard and playing for the club. But I know who wants to talk to the club (to discuss a transfer). Juventus, example, and I know of one other team in England.”

Now contrast this with a September statement, in which Yaya said:

“We cannot play with twelve guys. Physically I’m very good but one has to accept the decisions of the manager. I’m a profesional and if I don’t play, I have to try and help the team. I’m patient.”

Is that patience running out? Or is Yaya’s agent just mouthing off?

Some wondered, when Keita was signed, what the future our our very own, very active man crush would be. When Sergi Busquets hung around from the B squad, everyone thought it was cute, like he was a mascot or something. Then Guardiola saw him play, and uh, oh….

Many think that Busquets is precisely the kind of passing, ball-skills rich defensive mid that Guardiola wants to have, as an image of sorts (though Guardiola was never a DM) of his role in the mid-90s “Dream Team.” His play has certainly been a revelation, making his signing a real priority. After all, 30,000 Euros a season, his current pay packet, is barely walking-around money in Barcelona.

And what of Yaya? Guardiola is almost certainly going to be mightily vexed at this one. Yaya has had two starts this season, and has played very well in both. But if he gets the next one, it will look as if the team has caved in to the pressure of an agent.

Distressing me greatly is that Yaya hasn’t come out to say “Don’t know what the hell my agent was talking about. Must have been the Missus. What I said in September still goes. My time will come.”

The silence is something I don’t like. Not one bit. My man crush is still in effect, but I’m thinking about only sending a half-dozen roses instead of the full dozen.

Maybe Yaya talked to Guardiola already to smooth things over. Maybe he really feels that way. As we all know, agents talk out of their butts. Get the player a raise and a hefty transfer fee, and they get a cut, right? Rock on. Let’s talk some nonsense to stir some crap up.

On paper, we now have three defensive midfielders with very different skill sets. Yaya is the wall, the fluent, versatile rock who is skilled at making the right pass from the back, or rumbling upfield on the attack.

Keita is still looking for a defined role. But we just bought him, right?

Busquets isn’t as much the man wall as that defensive-minded sort of semi-attacking mid.

What happens? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it’s on to l’affaire Eto’o.

The Cameroonian striker’s contract expires in 2010, which means that we have to sell him if we don’t want the ugly specter of a free transfer to raise its head. A cut-rate sale would be bad enough. A recent article over at Goal.com suggested that the club is planning to offer Eto’o an extension, at a bit of a pay cut. In effect, the question is “Do you really love the club, or do you really love the money?” Mind you, Goal.com is the only place that we have seen this report, so color me suspicious. No other media outlets have picked it up. Not even the EE-loving AS. Not a peep out of Sport. EMD talks about the difficult decision the club and Eto’o will have to make with a contract renewal, but nothing about loyalty tests and a pay cut.

Eto’o has suitors, without question. He asked the club to lower his transfer fee, with the future in mind. You’d hate for your only option to be the cash-rich Citeh, right?

We all recall that Eto’o was on the block this past summer transfer season. There were nibbles and inquiries, but no serious bites, because of his transfer fee and salary demands. But what about this summer?

As regulars have read before, I think that this summer, we lose both Eto’o and Henry, one to a big offer, the other to somewhere that will allow him to play out the string in style, comfort and without the snarky Barcelona footy press. “A brace? Piffle. That’s not the Henry that Barcelona was buying. What a bad deal he’s turned out to be.”

Both are going to be difficult to replace, and names being bandied about such as Aguero and Benzema ain’t it, in my estimation.

On a grimmer note, that harmony and team spirit that Guardiola has so carefully built up is suddenly looking to be tested. Or is it? One way of knowing will be if players speak out in favor of Yaya or Eto’o. Silence can say one of two things: We agree with the club, or we disagree but don’t want to say anything. I’d much rather see the former than the latter.

Things are going so well right now. I’d hate for business to mess them up.

Now, here’s my view on the Eto’o matter: The club has a right to try whatever it can to ensure its future, just as a player has the right to seek better offers from other clubs. That’s business. Fiscally and all that jazz, I think the Eto’o move is a good one. Might as well find out now.

From a team perspective, I don’t like it one bit. He’s happy and playing well, even if he’s playing for a nice contract somewhere, either with us or elsewhere. Players always kick ass and take names in the last effective year of their contract. Henry signed a four-year deal, so he in effect has two more seasons with us. But I just don’t see him staying.

And that’s what the scuttlebutt has going. Might be nonsense, might be true. But there’s a lot of silence all ’round. The club hasn’t called BS on the Eto’o thing, Yaya hasn’t called his agent crazy.

But it’s too early for any of this crap to be going on.

Discuss.