SOCCER:BARCELONA WERE last night waiting for Pep Guardiola to make a final decision on his future, with fears growing he will choose to walk away from the club after four years in charge and 13 trophies won, having seen Real Madrid and Chelsea triumph at the Camp Nou in the past week.

Guardiola met the club’s president Sandro Rosell and sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta, as well as his agent, Jose Maria Orobitg, yesterday morning to talk about his future. During the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, Guardiola told Rosell his inclination was to walk away. Rosell suggested he give it more thought and a formal announcement is expected today.

Barcelona have tried to persuade their coach to continue but have grown increasingly concerned by the delays in signing a new contract. Guardiola had already intimated in the winter he was likely to leave at the end of the season but any decision was postponed and at that stage there was optimism he could be persuaded to continue.

Guardiola’s current deal expires at the end of the season. In previous seasons he had signed new deals in February or March; that he had reached April without committing to the club caused concern.

Guardiola had evaded questions about his future over the past month, looking increasingly uncomfortable every time the issue was raised. After Barcelona’s Champions League elimination by Chelsea he admitted the time had come to talk about his future and he would be meeting with Rosell.

Following that meeting there was pessimism at the club. Barcelona return to training today; the first chance the coach has to see his players since Tuesday night.

Barcelona have begun studying possible successors should Guardiola walk away. Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa and France manager Laurent Blanc are among the candidates.

So is Ernesto Valverde, who played for Barcelona between 1988 and 1990 and coached Espanyol to the 2007 Uefa Cup final. He recently left Olympiakos after leading them to a third Greek title in four years.

Guardiola has made no secret of the fact the Barcelona job has taken its toll on him. He has publicly joked that he is losing weight and losing his hair, and said recently Barcelona was a club where you could work for only three or four years and confided he felt his time there was coming to an end.

There was no date set for his departure and Barcelona were annoyed the content, which was an off-the-record chat before an interview with Italian TV, was released but it reflected a reality.

Recent comments in which he claimed not to have good memories of the clasicos against Real Madrid reflected the pressure and tension of the job, and the experience has been made all the more debilitating because of the serious illnesses suffered by his assistant Tito Villanova, who had a tumour, and defender Eric Abidal, who recently underwent a liver transplant.

Guardiola is the most successful coach in Barcelona’s history, having won three leagues, two Champions Leagues and a Copa del Rey in his four years in charge.

José Mourinho will not be reunited with Chelsea in the final of the Champions League, and he will not be reunited with them next season either.

In the aftermath of Real Madrid’s semi-final defeat to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the Portuguese coach announced he intends to stay at the Bernabéu, ending speculation about a return to the Premier League.

Strategic leaks from Mourinho’s camp at the end of January had suggested that he wanted to coach in England next season but now, having had discussions with Premier League clubs, he says he is staying at Madrid. Mourinho has been handed greater authority than any coach in Madrid’s history but he also made it clear that he will demand further changes.