2008–09 season
In association with Barça's director of sport,
Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola:
Daniel Alves and
Seydou Keita arrived from
Sevilla,
Martín Cáceres from
Villarreal by way of
Recreativo,
Gerard Piqué returned from
Manchester United, and
Alexander Hleb was signed from
Arsenal.
Henrique was also signed from
Palmeiras, but was immediately loaned out to
Bayer Leverkusen.
[18] In interviews with the press, Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players. Along with the new signings, Guardiola promoted
canteranos Sergio Busquets,
Pedro Rodríguez and
Jeffrén Suárez to the first team squad. His influences as a coach include mostly
Johan Cruyff, but also
Louis van Gaal,
Juan Manuel Lillo and
Marcelo Bielsa.
2009–10 season
During Guardiola's
second season as manager Barcelona traded Samuel Eto'o and €49 million for
Zlatan Ibrahimović. The club also signed
Maxwell from
Internazionale and
Dmytro Chygrynskiy from
Shakhtar Donetsk. Many players left the club on the same transfer window;
Eiður Guðjohnsen was sold to
Monaco,
Sylvinho and
Albert Jorquera's contracts ended and other players were loaned out, including
Alexander Hleb to
Stuttgart,
Martín Cáceres to
Juventus,
Alberto Botía to
Sporting de Gijón and
Víctor Sánchez to
Xerez.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep_Guardiola