Three together? Barca get shot of Ronaldinho, Deco . . . and Eto’o too

The club have even given the trio a deadline of July 10 to be gone from the Nou Camp, four days before pre-season training is due to start under under new coach Pep Guardiola.

The former Spain midfielder was particularly damning of Ronaldinho yesterday, saying: 'If it was felt Ronaldinho wanted to return to be the player he was, he would be here. But there has been a deterioration in the situation and I want to forge a strong dressing room.'

Ronaldinho and Deco, along with Samuel Eto'o are set to leave Barcelona, and could be set for the Premier League

All three stars are known to have been hawked around European clubs, but what was striking was the way Guardiola ruthlessly declared the end of their Barcelona careers then invited offers for the them.

'We are putting a team together and they aren't in our thoughts,' said Guardiola yesterday. Adios amigos . . .

Eto'o, 27, is still rated among the best strikers in the world, but that is not enough keep him in Catalonia. There is likely to be a queue of suitors for him, although the Cameroon international will demand Champions League football from his new employers and guarantees about his place in the starting line-up.

He has already rejected a chance to sign for Tottenham, and Sportsmail revealed last season that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is an admirer of the player who is considered to have a huge ego.

Manchester City still hope to pull off the remarkable coup of landing Ronaldinho, 28, but they have a rival, with David Beckham's LA Galaxy making a bid worth around £25million-a year in salary. Even City, backed by ambitious owner Thaksin Shinawatra, would struggle to match that.

Barcelona vice president Ferran Soriano said: 'We have received other offers for "Dinho". City are not unique in wanting our player.'

His agent and brother Roberto de Assis added: 'Ronaldinho is calm and on holiday and we are not preoccupied with the future.'

Deco, whose own dream of following Luiz Felipe Scolari to Chelsea could be scuppered by his age - he will be 31 in August - counselled Ronaldinho strongly against being tempted to join Thaksin's City revolution.

He said: 'With the greatest respect to Manchester City, I would not like to see Ronaldinho go there to play for them.

'I still consider Ronaldinho to be one of the best players in the world. He needs a huge team to express himself, one who play in and aim to win the Champions League.

'It would be very good for him to go to a really big club, a team with grand aspirations who will make him feel like he did at Barca. He needs that as a person as much as a player. I would like Ronnie to play with me for Chelsea.'

Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o, with their three-week transfer deadline, are among the most decorated stars in the game.

That is why LA Galaxy would like to take double world player of the year Ronaldinho to Hollywood, to line up alongside England's Beckham in a galactico double act under coach Ruud Gullit. They believe it would trigger a huge response among the large latino population in Los Angeles and establish the club on the world map.

They are ready not only to pay Barcelona a £20m transfer fee but are thought to be prepared to underwrite that astonishing salary of £500,000 a week.

Half that dizzying pay packet covers the player's image rights, with Galaxy anticipating a multimillion- dollar turnover in replica shirts and merchandising.

None of which will concern hard-liner Guardiola, who is bent on breaking up the Barcelona squad who last season failed to prevent archrivals Real Madrid win their second successive La Liga title.