Pep: Bojan knows his trip has a return ticket

The 21-year-old insisted he would not return to Barca if he was called with an offer from the coach because Guardiola never gave him a chance to shine in last season's Champions League final against Manchester United.

Bojan left the Spanish and European champions two months after their famous 3-1 win at Wembley and joined the Serie A club for an initial €12 million following the tension with Guardiola.

The coach appeared sympathetic with the Roma forward and has taken note of the frustration still felt by his former starlet.

"He [Bojan] did everything to help us. I have good memories of him and I understand his disappointment as I used to play football too," Guardiola told the press.

"He is still young and in two years he will be back here. He now has time to show that he can return to this club.

"I would have liked to have helped him more, but I couldn't. I have to ask whether we did something wrong.

"If I am still the coach should he return, then I will need convincing he can be a Barcelona player. He is young and has a great future, but the success depends on him."

The coach then went on to talk about their Liga clash at home to Racing Santander on Saturday.

"Racing have had 15 days to prepare for this game, we have only had four players [because of the international break]," added the coach.

"They are a good team and their coach [Hector Cuper] is a maestro, but we must try to play a fresh and sparkling game so we can beat a team who defend very well."

Kick-off against the relegation strugglers is at 2000 (CET). 

Probably feels like an idiot now. Bojan that is.

Pep always calm .

Good reply.

Well Villa is 31-32 in 2 years?

He can take his spot easy in that time no?

Anti-DNA wrote:Well Villa is 31-32 in 2 years?

He can take his spot easy in that time no?

i think so Deulofeu & Rafinha are other options

Pep is simply a pure class act.

I model myself after him as I absolutely love and admire his supreme character.

Good response by Pep.
Would be nice if the two of them got back on good terms.

I agree with you all that Pep's response is classy but reading between the lines the reply does not seem all that innocent to me. Pep here is saying that Bojan needs to prove in two years time that he is worthy of being a starter for Barcelona because at the moment he is not. Not sure who all have noticed but Pep does hit back at those who make uncharitable remarks about him. He hardly ever does it in a crude manner and he often does not mention the individual by name but he does get his point across sooner or later. This was the Bojan case. Of course we all know how he dealt with Mourinho. Lastly wasn't this a reply to Ibrahimovic - "There is no place in this team for those who don't run or don't pass."