Mascherano

The situation with Mascherano is delicate and you have to have some sympathy with the player who when promised if he would give us another season by Benitez that he would be allowed to move on this transfer window combined with the fact that his family are not with him and he basically lives alone in the city. You have to feel for him.

However he cannot just be allowed to leave at any price he is probably the best in his position in the world at this moment and his true value is easily £35Million and he cannot be allowed to dictate to the manager if he plays or not.

Roy has to be shown the support of the board in this matter, if he is undermined the damage will be far greater than one unsettled player.

If it means that we continue to pay Mascherano' wages even if he doesn't play and he should be fined the maximum possible if he continues this stance and if it means he is banned from the training ground for his poor attitude then this is how it will have to be.

If the board don't support Roy in this matter then he may as well resign now.

Well done to Roy and the club for sticking to their guns and getting the price they wanted for this upstart.


Apparently the fee is an intial down payment of £16 million with another £6 million subject to appearances and success.


Well Mascherano perhaps you are a talented player but you will never be welcome at Anfield again for the way you have conducted yourself in this matter.

How quickly he forgot where he was before LFC put up a considerable sum to rescue him.

Caveat Emptor

Good riddance! Roy Hodgson hits out at Javier Mascherano as Liverpool midfielder secures exit to Barcelona
By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 3:24 PM on 27th August 2010

Roy Hodgson has launched an attack on 'selfish' Javier Mascherano on the day Liverpool accepted a bid from Barcelona for the rebel midfielder.
The Argentina captain's long-awaited transfer to the Spanish club is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours after the Reds accepted an offer of around £18million plus add-ons.
The 26-year-old backed out of playing in the Barclays Premier League defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands on Monday as he attempted to push through a deal.


That severely disrupted Hodgson's plans and he hit out at the player's unprofessionalism.
He said: 'It is not easy for me to defend the actions (of Mascherano) because professionals are paid to play and when they are called on to play, they play.
'We had a player at Blackburn, Graeme Le Saux, who was very agitated when I joined the club because he was determined to go to Chelsea and that caused a lot of problems in pre-season.
'Tim Sherwood was wanted by Tottenham and that caused a lot of problems because he wanted to get back to London. These situations do occur unfortunately and we have to live with it.
'I don't think the players mean it as a challenge to your authority or a challenge to the club's authority.

'It is just a selfish situation that they have got something they want to do and they just expect the club, and therefore you as one of the leaders of the club, to bow down and accept that they are going to do it.
'Unfortunately there are going to be periods of time when there will be some unpleasantness because players must also understand that when you sign contracts you sign contracts to play.

'If the club decide they are going to accept an offer for you and let you go that is one thing, but you run the risk the club might say 'I'm sorry, you've got the contract and we aren't selling you so you are staying'.
'It doesn't bother me as a challenge to my authority it is just a fact of life. But it is a fact of life which gets exacerbated in a one-month period in January and between July and August when it is a time of year when a lot of people are trying to do their business.'
Mascherano has agreed a four-year, £85,000-a-week contract and Barcelona expect him to undergo a medical in the next 24 hours.
'FC Barcelona and Liverpool have reached an agreement in principle to the transfer of Javier Mascherano for the next four seasons,' a statement from the Catalan club read.
'The deal was closed after the intensive efforts made by the club in the last few hours and through the provision of the player himself engaged in the negotiation.'
Hodgson has spent most of his time since taking over talking about players who are leaving or reported to be leaving, the latest being Dirk Kuyt on Wednesday.
The Englishman dismissed that prospect out of hand despite Kuyt's agent claiming he wanted to move to Inter Milan and the player himself pledged his commitment to the club after last night's 2-1 Europa League play-off victory over Trabzonspor.
'We have to be forgiven for getting irritated by agents stirring things up even more,' said the 62-year-old, who has mixed feelings about the imminent closure of the transfer window as it will stop speculation about his players but leaves him little time to buy reinforcements.

'It is bad enough if there is a genuine offer and a genuine problem to solve but it is even worse when you are constantly batting away things you shouldn't even be talking about.

'When the window closes then every press conference is about football and football matters rather than 'X's agent is saying this and is there any truth in it?' and you are trying to diplomatically answer the question without offending too many people.'
The departure of Mascherano leaves Hodgson little time to bring in reinforcements but he is optimistic he can add players before the transfer window closes.
A deal is close for Fulham left-back Paul Konchesky but Hodgson also needs reinforcements up front to give Fernando Torres some back-up.

'We still need to improve our squad and we haven't much time to do that,' said the Reds boss. 'I am hoping that in the short period left in the transfer window we still have the chance to add at least a couple of players in the squad to at least replace the ones who are no longer with us.

'With Mascherano going we are losing a lot of player and not bringing any in so it is not good in that respect.'