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Did Guardiola harm Eto’o & Yaya’s careers?

There haven't been many sticks to beat Pep Guardiola with during his hugely successful managerial career that began in the late 2000s, but one continued criticism has been his rumoured under-appreciation of African players. 

Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure are the names often thrown into the debate when driving home this standpoint owing to how they departed Barcelona. Cameroon’s all-time top scorer was sold to Inter Milan in summer 2009, in a bizarre cash-plus-player swap involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic, after an incredible campaign in Pep’s first season ended with the Blaugrana claiming the millennium’s first European treble. 

Yaya, part of that amazing 2008/09 season, left for Manchester City a year later. This was to foreshadow events between 2016 and 2018 in which the four-time African Footballer of the Year was made a peripheral figure at the Etihad Stadium by Guardiola, leading to his exit on a free transfer after the 2017/18 season.
 
The aforementioned are facts, but how they've been interpreted by critics over the years has bordered on ridiculous. 

Accepted, the Spanish boss sold both players in their primes, but the context behind their departures from the Nou Camp has never been considered. Instead, the lazy point of view that the two-time Champions League-winning coach retains a prejudice against players of colour has lingered.

What then were the circumstances of Eto’o and Yaya’s departures from the Catalan side, and were their careers harmed by the Barca icon as is often presumed?

Pep Guardiola Samuel Eto'o Barcelona

Before Guardiola’s promotion from Barca B to the main team, there’d been a two-year malaise under his predecessor Frank Rijkaard that saw Real Madrid supplant their great rivals to win La Liga in 2007 and 2008. 

Pep had kept a close eye on how the Dutchman’s tenure unraveled from a distance and, on getting the job in summer 2008, wanted to rid the club of two elements who prevented the kind of cohesion and unity he sought: Ronaldinho and Eto’o. The Brazilian’s hedonistic lifestyle had become worrisome and Eto’o’s combustible personality was considered potentially disruptive to the dressing room. 

Ronaldinho left for AC Milan, but the two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner, promising to put the team first, remained. This alliance bore fruit initially as the forward netted 12 La Liga goals in the opening 10 games and by the mid-point of the season led the way for the Pichichi with 17 goals, two ahead of Valencia’s David Villa (15) and five in front of Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan (12). 

However, in the second half of the campaign, Guardiola’s insistence to make Lionel Messi the central figure of the side didn’t sit right with Eto’o, who was uncomfortable changing his game to bend to his manager and the Argentine’s wishes. Pep wasn’t too impressed by his striker’s resistance.

The final straw, though, came in the final weeks of the season where, having won La Liga, Eto’o refused to be rested for the final three games as he battled with Forlan and Villa for the top scorer’s award. 

Eto'o Guardiola Barcelona

With a Champions League final against Manchester United on the horizon, Guardiola felt the forward was putting himself first, rather than the needs of the team. In contrast, Xavi was rested for two of the final three matches, while Messi accepted missing all three fixtures. 

Forlan eventually pipped the Indomitable Lion to the Pichichi, ending with 32 goals, two higher than the African and four above Villa on 28.

That incident, coupled with shifting Messi into a more central role, convinced the former midfield controller that the forward couldn’t be part of the side any longer. 

For Yaya, the situation was entirely different. 

The Ivorian’s strengths simply weren’t suited to the possession-based style Guardiola sought to implement in his regime, so he just didn’t fit in. Knowing the strengths of Sergio Busquets from Barcelona B, Pep introduced him to the first-team and made the then 20-year-old the deepest of Barca’s midfield three.

Given the influence and effectiveness of Xavi and Andreas Iniesta in central midfield, Toure was unlikely to be more than a bit-part player had he stayed in Spain. 

If anything, letting the West African leave for Man City was what transformed the peripheral Ivorian into arguably the most dynamic midfielder in Europe in the early 2010s. 

Toure went on to enjoy a storied career in the Premier League with the Citizens and was instrumental in ending their 35-year wait for silverware. Many of his individual honours, chiefly the African Footballer of the Year, came after his Premier League switch too. 

Amazingly, the three-time English top flight champion is the only African to win the award four years on the spin, and his collection sits him joint-top with Eto’o for the most wins.

Yaya Toure Manchester City

Interestingly, the former Monaco midfielder never made the final three before winning it for the first time in 2011, which further feeds the narrative that moving to City in 2010 was arguably the best thing that happened to the dynamo’s career. 

Eto’o, for his part, was hugely successful in his first season in Italy, becoming the only player ever to claim back-to-back European trebles and the fourth player to win successive Champions League titles with different clubs.

He then went on to beat his personal best the following season by netting 37 goals in all competitions. The accusation that Guardiola hurt his or Yaya’s career is entirely unjust.

Indeed, the direction Pep had decided to take as regards Messi as a false nine meant the Cameroon icon's status was always going to change at Barca.

It was maybe a blessing in disguse that he left as well; consider the struggles of Ibrahimovic, who shares a kindred personality with the African, in his sole season at Barcelona.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Pep Guardiola BarcelonaGetty Images

Although it should be noted the Swede wasn’t as versatile or athletic as Eto’o, thus limiting the number of positions he could play in unlike the 2000 Olympic Gold medalist. 

Messi’s rise slightly compromised David Villa’s career somewhat too, as the ex-Valencia forward was shunted to a wide-left role despite being an out-and-out striker at Los Che and for Spain.

He and Eto’o shared some similarities in their profile, however, the Spanish striker accepted playing out wide and embraced Pep’s elevation of the Argentine, which was not the same for the African hitman.

The events in the early 2010s have been interpreted differently by observers over the years, still, the notion that Guardiola harmed their careers is simply untrue, as both sales indeed set Eto’o and Yaya on the path to cementing their place in the pantheon of African and European football. 

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