Guardiola has sufficient credit at the Camp Nou - after leading Barca to a historic 'treble' of Liga, cup and Champions in his very first season as coach - that he has hardly taken any criticism at all for offloading Eto'o, who scored more than 130 goals for Barca in his five tempestuous seasons at the Camp Nou.

Guardiola tried to get rid of Eto'o a year ago but had to let the Cameroonian stay when no serious offers for him came in. Eto'o then helped Barca to the 'treble' with 35 goals in all competitions, but nonetheless failed to win Guardiola's approval.

Last week Guardiola said, somewhat enigmatically, that Eto'o was leaving 'not for football reasons, but due to reasons of 'feeling'.'

Few Spaniards doubt Ibrahimovic's charisma and talent, but some followers of La Liga are sceptical as to whether he - top scorer in Italy last season with 25 goals - will put away the same quantity of goals as Eto'o.

Madrid sports paper Marca has an online poll asking 'Will Ibrahimovic surpass the number of goals scored last season by Eto'o'.

By Tuesday 31,065 readers had voted, with only 35 of them opting for 'Yes'.