Deemed surplus after last season's disaster, Cameroonian star Samuel Eto'o is back to being a main offensive threat for Barcelona. Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

By Sid Lowe, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

Ronaldinho swapped Camp Nou for San Siro, roared on by 30,000 delirious AC Milan fans as he performed tricks, flicks and that trademark thumb-and-little-finger waggle, dripping with bling.

All mumbled words and simmering determination, Deco's presentation at Stamford Bridge was not such a bombastic event, but the impact of his debut made up for it as he smashed in Chelsea's fourth goal on the opening day of the Premier League season after dominating the game with his characteristic sparrow-stepped style.

Daniel Alves, not so much a right back as an entire team wrapped up in one hyperactive man, turned up at Camp Nou for a whopping $43 million (plus a conditional $8.8 million), three long years after he first tried to work an exit from the clutches of Sevilla president José Maria del Nido, the toughest negotiator in Spain.

And Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart brought a little glamour back to Real Madrid when he was presented alongside his wife, model and television presenter Sylvie Mies -- and the person the cameras were really interested in that roasting August day at the Bernabéu.

But Spain's summer ended up being as much about two transfers that weren't, about the domino effect that never happened. They had dominated the media for five weeks, but in barely five days it was finally confirmed that both Samuel Eto'o and Cristiano Ronaldo were going nowhere. Real Madrid was forced to accept that it could not get its man; Barcelona was forced to accept that it could not get rid of its, either. Consequently, players such as Valencia duo David Villa and David Silva were forced to accept that they would not get the move they wanted.

At both Madrid and Barça, authority was undermined, the embarrassment palpable. Yet while Madrid was left with nothing, the feeling grew that Barcelona might just have stumbled across the perfect consolation prize: It had "signed" one of the best strikers in the world.

Early in the summer, new Barça coach Pep Guardiola announced that Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o were not in his plans. It would be better, he said, for them to find new clubs. In fact, Barcelona would help look for them. Five weeks later, with Deco and Ronaldinho having departed, Guardiola announced that Eto'o would definitely be staying. "Samuel, yes" ran one headline; another read: "Barcelona make the 'signing' of the summer."

Hardly surprising, you might think. After all, the Cameroonian had been Barcelona's top scorer during preseason, way ahead of Thierry Henry despite only coming on as a sub. Just 24 hours before Barcelona's first competitive game of the season -- the first leg of its Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow -- Eto'o was officially back in the fold, and he scored twice in the 4-0 defeat of the Polish champions. He then headed in a 95th-minute winner against Boca Juniors in the Gamper Trophy, the club's traditional curtain-raiser.

Only it wasn't about the goals. Eto'o has always scored by the bucket load -- 24 and 26 in his first two league seasons, followed by 27 more in just 37 games for the next two injury-hit years. Last season, he scored 16 in only 17 starts.

Barcelona was never worried about Eto'o's goals; it was far more worried about his knees -- the site of the injuries he suffered over the past two seasons -- and his mouth. It was the disruptive influence of the Cameroonian in his own dressing room, not in the opposition's defense, that concerned them. The striker had no place in Guardiola's revolution, one based on commitment and team spirit.

Wage demands

But Barcelona had a problem: It couldn't sell Eto'o. That was the real reason he stayed, not the goals he scored. It is not as if Barcelona had not tried to sell him. He had even been in Uzbekistan looking for a move. But his wage demands -- $8.8 million a year, after tax -- were too high, and so, too, was the fee Barcelona wanted: at least $44 million.

Suspicion grew about why Barcelona wanted to be free of him -- there were whispers about his age (is he really only 27?), his fitness and his temperament. At the same time, Barcelona could not reach a deal for Emmanuel Adebayor, Didier Drogba, Karim Benzema or even David Trezeguet; and as for Henry, he still wasn't scoring, despite Guardiola returning him to the central role for which he pined last season.