By John ST

Mourinho’s unemployment status will stay for a while longer. After snubbing the England job, it is presumed that his next destination, Barcelona, will be falling over themselves to get his signature.

However, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has put paid to such rumors and gave his strong backing to coach Frank Rijkaard.

“We have full confidence in Frank and believe that he is the ideal coach for Barcelona,” Laporta told a Spanish state television on Wednesday.

“He has the perfect temperament and will be with us as long as he wants. Mourinho is a great professional but we can’t have two coaches at the same time.”

Rijkaard steered Barca to two league titles and victory in the Champions League in his first three seasons at the Nou Camp. But last season his team relinquished the Spanish title to Real Madrid and they currently trail their arch-rivals by six points in the standings.

Asked about the future of out-of-form Ronaldinho, Laporta said Barcelona had no intention of letting the 27-year-old Brazilian leave the club.

“We don’t want to sell him. He’s got a contract and he will stay at Barca as long as he wants. I know that he is happy in the city and at the club. The club is determined to help him recover. We are grateful for everything he has done for us.”

Some vineyard transfer news reported that Barcelona had begun their preparations for next season by closing a deal worth between 14-18 million euros to sign Racing Santander defender Ezequiel Garay.

The club denied the report, although they did admit the highly-rated Argentine centre-back was amongst the list of possible new recruits for next season.

Soccer Net Live