Liverpool Midfielder Mascherano Agrees £36m Barcelona Move: I Hope Not!

kopman - November 16th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

Oh no not this again, we had this last summer with alonso and look what happened.
I would love masch to stay here, he gives 100% every game, makes vital blocks and tackles he never stops running for a ball once hes committed, fair play he can get a bit hot headed some times but that just proves he cares about what hes doing right?

If he wants to stay and would be happy here then keep him but if he isnt 100% happy his performances will slip over time so there would be no point him being here. All the same i hope he still wants to wear a liverpool shirt and hope he stays if this is what he wants.

Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

Lucas and spearing even could fill in and do a job but there is a big difference between filling in and what mascherano does. If he did go we would leak goals. We need the bite in the middle that he brings if he was to go it wouldn’t be in january hope he doesn’t go at all we should be building the team around him, gerrard and torres

baggins09 - November 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

i think its safe to say his head has been turned so get rid in jan he’s playing poorly compared to last season anyway so its no great loss (if he was on form i’d be crying though) buy de rossi for 20m and wouldn’t mind a cheeky 16m bid for bentley and pav from spurs

kopman - November 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

Retryboy i agree with what you say to a point.
Yeah i agree lucas and spearing could step in when needed just to fill gaps but like you said they are no mascherano and cant be compared with him (although in time i could be proven wrong)
the bit where i dont agree is to say we should build the team around these 3 players, yes they are key to us but i think its a little dangerous like that for example if we have a couple of injuries and a ban or something then the team has to be flexible and be able to manage without these 3 players.
basically we need a team that wont panic when our key players are missing although its tough to do when you look at the quality other teams have on the bench and we cant afford these kind of players yet.
But i agree if he wants to stay no way should we sell him coz he is vital to us

dave - November 16th, 2009 at 2:36 pm

backward step if we sell him,i rate mascherano and essien the best two defensive midfielders in the world at the moment.he is just starting to regain last season’s form,refuse to sell unless they cough up £50m

jimmyk - November 16th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

i know this sounds bad, but i really dot care. Lucas has been miles better than him this season. we shouldnt let him go in january unless we get the players that we want…i.e silva, villa etc etc not dirty rubbish stop gap players…if we can get these players (unlikely) then f*ck it, sell him. he doesnt want to play for us.

clearly i would rather have a masch that a.) plays amazing like he can and b.) wants to play for us…but it is evident neither exist this season.

bye bye

Anfield Faithful - November 16th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

May this turn out like last time nd he stays coz he is as important to the team as stevie and torres. I don’t think spearing and lucas could do what he does week in week out. Particularly with lucas coming off well a bit up the field and i agree that if he is sold we won’t have the entire cash available for bringing new playes as was the case with xabi

Anfield Faithful - November 16th, 2009 at 2:59 pm

May this turn out like last time nd he stays coz he is as important to the team as stevie and torres. I don’t think spearing and lucas could do what he does week in week out. Particularly with lucas coming off well a bit up the field and i agree that if he is sold we won’t have the entire cash available for bringing new players as was the case with xabi

Warren Bloggs - November 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

I really don’t think Mascherano will leave, well i hope not at least. He has started to pick up form recently and his performances against Lyon and Man Utd did not look like the playing of a man who wished to leave.

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

iwould see it like this
alonso left and we had to react in signing aquilani , i d rather we got someone in now in jan like defour, or flamini who is the only person i ve ever seen bossmasch around, get them in for six months to bed them in then let javier go in the summer if things are going okay, plus i hear his wife aint happy in england.

also agree that losing him now before adequate replacement is bought would be suicidal

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

lucas isnt ready to perform masch s job on his own, plus he isnt that type of player, i d have defour from liege hes in the same mould as masch a better passer and a little younger
and would cost 14, but not seeling masch til summer, because i still think we can win the league this year

chelsea drogba lampard terry out
man utd – fucked if soething happens to rooney
arsenal van persi and bendtner out

Donavan Ried - November 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

Good Afternoon Warren Bloggs, Anfield Faithful,baggins09 and Retryboy

“Express, Liverpool are now willing to listen to offers of up to £36million from Barca.”???? wSo if Barca offers £40m we will refuse it???…. LOL

I stated here a long time ago that we will lose Masherano but not until the 2010 summer transfer window ……

What Rafa( If he is still here) needs to do now is not look for another Masherano, but rather chance Liverpools style of play. …. Use the money to get a quality striker, and maybe someone for the left. Lukas Podolski would fit the bill as he can play both roles and is definitely quality and would cost in the region of £17-£22m leaving enough maybe to bring in Bastian Schweinsteiger to give us more quality on the right …..

Temporary solution, is if we get Schweinsteiger is to play Kuyt in the Masherano role.Think about it ….. He will run all day, and tackles a good as Masherano (Maybe not as fast) but he is better than Lucas ….. Not suggesting we play him every match, but in games we need to ….

Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 16th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

It’s November so I very much doubt that any deal has been done with Barça or anyone else and even if it had I very much doubt that he will leave in January. How does the Express get this information anyhow? If I was Benitez i would sell him in the summer though as to me it is obvious that he does not want to be at Liverpool or he would have come out and said that he is happy to stay and he would sign a new contract. He is replaceable with 30 million though easily and for me 30 million would buy a far better player. Mash ios not the most inventive of players and I have said on here befor ethat I think Lucas will be a better player.

dave - November 16th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

play agger there

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 4:14 pm

no to kuyt in the madcherano role, kuyt can t hold onto the ball , he dbe a liabilty at dm he d give it away carelessly like he does millions of times further up the field, we have three central midfielders if masch leaves adeqaute for a four four two formation but not our current one. i d still buy defour for fourteen million, and have 22 million change but not to buy ppodolski, hes all power and no brain, schweinsteiger yeah i like him, plus he is adaptable., though maybe podolski and torres up front with a midfield of gerrard and lucas or aquilani andlucas or aquilani and gerrard could be potent, still like defour as a central idfielder though

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

aggre me bollix , it wouldnt work , see aurelio playing there he was fucking woeful, i think currently lucas could be the key to using our current formation well
switching from 2 dm and 1am to 2 am and 1 dm during the game, with rafa allowing lucas a natural midfielders box to box role alongside masch holding and gerrard behind torres
or using aquilani in the same role, using them as box to box midfielders supporting the attack as well as defense
so in attack we have five natural attackers and then in defenses the possibilty of six natural defenders, plsu add johnson as a natural attacker givces you six natural attackers

still my preferred line up at the moment is 4-1-4-1
with masch holding on his own
with babel wide right benayoun/riera wide left#
aquilani and gerrard centrally behind torres

Warren Bloggs - November 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Afternoon Donovan…..

I have posted earlier that Masch should not be aloud to leave but what we forget is that the rumour suggests he will leave in January? So lets imagine this is true (however unlikely) and think who do we sign? Well, (if it does then this is likely):

Sold (im basing this on reprots doing the rounds and these are not entirely my opinion):

Mascherano £36m
Voronin £4m
Babel £8m
Dossena £6m

Well this would give us a total of £54m, and i think we could all agree that this is a healthy wod of cash to play with but i fear most of the money will go towards the debt leaving us with a rediculous £20m to spend on replacements and re-inforcements.

So, i of all people would hate our club to only sell our best performers for a quick buck to ease of our financial instability. Instead, i would advise the following:

(I agree with Donovan that the Bundesliga is a fine league full of ‘cheaper’ quality)

Hamburg have reportedly been interested in Andriy Voronin and Ryan Babel and so i would do a swap deal for there wing wizard Eljero Elia……then…..

………sell Dossena to Roma in exchange for John Arne Riise, there is nothing i would love more then to see the ginger norwegian rocket shot back in a liverpool jersey!!!………..then………..

…………if in fact we do sell Masch and reportedly Riera as well (although i think he should still be here – as i do with Masch) then i think we should get Yaya Toure, Milito and around £20-25m……

…………..then snap up Van der Vaart from Real and Pavlyuchenko from Spurs for a joint fee of around £20m……………and finally sign Koman from Sampdoria with the remaining £5m!

We can also sell the likes of Kyrgiakos, Degen, Itandje, Mikhailov pos. etc etc in the summer…………

Players sold (IN JANUARY)

Mascherano, Riera, Voronin, Dossena, Babel.

Players bought (IN JANUARY)

Elia, Riise, Milito, Van der Vaart, Pavalyuchenko and Koman.

Far fetched i agree, and obv this all counts on Mascherano and Riera leaving the club as reported although i think it highly unlikely. Remember, the players in are those who have been linked with the club. Others linked with the club if Masch were to leave are Diarra (Real), Hernanes (Sao Paolo), Martinez (Bilboa).

Warren Bloggs - November 16th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

Why Daniel Alves when we already have Glen Johnson? Plus i wouldn’t pay £30m for him, he is a very good full-back, but remember he is only a full-back!!

dave - November 16th, 2009 at 5:17 pm

the fact of the matter is if someone owed you hundreds of millions would you make them pay you some back or let them spend it all on players,christian purslow was put there by the rbs,we were so close to going under.

...samlfc.... - November 16th, 2009 at 5:18 pm

Afternoon Donavan Ried,Warren bloggs,Hoogleboogybugleboy, Retryboy and everyone else

I also don’t want Mascherano to go as like others Warren said he has picked up most of his form again with solid performances and i don’t think Lucas is quite ready to be his replacement, maybe in a 2 years time he might but even then i doubt i would want to sell Mascherano unless his form declines.

Anfield Faithful - November 16th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

With yossi and riera being injured lets hope we now see babel in starting eleven more although i do hope that yossi returns as soon as possible.
coming to masch i dont think we need to jump the gun just yet as jan usually is not the time when teams want to offload their key players particularly in our case. On his future plans i do not know what’ll happen. Guess donovan kuyt is not the player we need there. Also aquilani need to play just behind the striker until stevie g is fully fit after that aqua must play flexible cm not dm in any case(which i fear rafa would do)

dave - November 16th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

we have to pay the next installment on aquilani in january also.

Anfield Faithful - November 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

Warren bloggs i also want to see riise return but i dont think that’d be the case coz there were reports before about him saying he is settled at roma

Warren Bloggs - November 16th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

Well ok this is unlikely i will agree, however, i do think we need more reinforcement in JANUARY the kind of reinforcement we ahould have got during the SUMMER!!! So Tottenham now want a full sale of Pavlyuchenko (acc to Russian reports) at approx £10m and West Ham expect approx £20m!? So i would prefer the Spurs man at £10m and Elia in exchage for Voronin and Babel. Possibly, Koman as well?

Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

Afternoon all Kopman just meant that the last thing you want to do is weaken the spine of the team or sell one of the few world class players we have. People should realise that lucas has had mascherano protecting the back four in most of the games so far leaving him free to play. Lucas hasn’t got enough pace or tackling skills to do the protecting role against top teams kuyt certainly hasn’t got the pace. If he went we would have to replace him with someone like toure hope it doesn’t come to that though and i do feel this is just the papers trying to stir things up.

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 6:00 pm

i reserve judgement of spearing but from what i have seen of plessis he looks utter shite.

the league is far from over , gerrard will be fit again soon ngog playe well against birmingham torres will have had a good long rest, babel is showing glimpses, lucas is stepping up , aquaman will be available, i m quite looking forward to the future, everyone would have to admit we destroyed birmingham in terms of quality possesion and chances created , they should be wondering how they didnt get an almighty thumping

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

does anyone here actually realise that mascerano isnt that quick?, and agreed lucas isnt ready to be a lone defensive midfielder

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

the bundesliga is closest in style and atmosphereto the premiership also, making the transition easier for imports

kermit - November 16th, 2009 at 6:04 pm

plus germans do quite well at anfield for some reason ie riedle hamann even babbel to some extent.

though remember voronin was imported from germany

dave - November 16th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

riedle was rubbish!,the bundesliga made voronin look really good.

Anfield Faithful - November 16th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Yep i agree with retroboy that masch is one of few international pedigree players we have and selling him will completely break our midfield. Lucas isn’t fit for his role and if masch goes(although i pray he doesn’t) the only viable options are diarra yaya toure or defour. But we need to send voronin plessis degen dossena away and sign elia first thing in jan

jimmyk - November 16th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

warren bloggs, if we do happen to raise that amount of cash from sales of players and get it all to spend why on earth would we buy

Elia, Riise, Milito, Van der Vaart, Pavalyuchenko and Koman???

Elia + koman = yes

but they rest are an absolute waste of money!!! they are all average players. van der vaart is a risk and so is pav due to lack of game time and poor performances over the past 2 seasons, and milito?

from those sales we would have a hefty nest egg to invest in a decent player.

at the time we bought torres the 20-25m we spent was large and you can see exactly how much difference he made to our team being a top player!

we have some good young players that can cover roles rather than but average players to fill gaps because of their experience. if we sell masch for 35-40m i would like to see most of that go on one player i.e villa, silva, bojan, hamsik etc etc…players of top quality! and the rest gamble on some youngsters i.e ..elia

i think its about time we stopped trying to get bargains replacements for our big sales and start really making that money count….although saying that, aquilani will be great im sure….but look at the price we had to pay due to his injury…im sure that had something to do with his price…

JOHN LFC - November 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

I’d like to see Di Rossi. He is in the top 3 CDM in the world. Or we could switch to playing a more attacking game. Spearing and Plessis are not that good and will never be. We should look into the possiblity of Agger playing in that role.

Machcarano is worth more than that we could get £40m considering he is the best player in the world at his role.

We could spend the money on Di Marie or Suarez for more attacking options.

jimmyk - November 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

di rossi would be class and would work well with aquilani, defour is another eye catcher!

think di maria is a bit too much at 36m+

Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

Markus babbel was a quality player. Hamann was same mould as mascherano but nowhere near as good and his partnership with gerrard worked brilliantly thats why i would still rather have 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 with stevie g and mascherano in the middle.

Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 10:59 pm

Another reason to play 4-4-2 you only need one of gerrard and aquilani to be fit and you could actually rest stevie now and again and wouldn’t be forced to rush him back which we keep having to do.

Donavan Ried - November 16th, 2009 at 11:47 pm

dave – November 16th, 2009 at 6:15 pm ……. “riedle was rubbish!,the bundesliga made voronin look really good” ……. Maybe it was because Voronin was able to play with no pressure on his back …… And as i have said before the Bundesliga might not be at it strongest now but there are still some quality cheap players there for the taking …….

Digger - November 17th, 2009 at 4:20 am

wat is going on here…..???? mascherano is a holdin midfielder, thats all??? if we get 35mill for the guy sell hm….. we’re not going to win games with masch….. spend the £35 on strikers/wingers. get some width in the team… everyone going on about masch like he’s a un sellable, if our defense reina, agger, skrtel, carra, insua, johnson fit are in form they are very very good, with lucus playing the def role thats enuf….

i would rather we spent 35mill on aguero than keep masch…..

Retryboy - November 17th, 2009 at 8:32 am

Mascherano is vital he is the one that lets those wingers you are talking about play, the full backs get forward and stops the runners getting through from midfield obviously a lot of his work goes un-noticed by some, if he went he would have to be properly replaced and there aren’t many around in the same league as him

Retryboy - November 17th, 2009 at 9:24 am

Doesn’t anyone else think it’s maybe rafa’s man management style that leads to players being unsettled

jimmyk - November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 am

no, not at all. its money and success with a big dollop of NO LOYALTY that makes them unsettled.

Retryboy - November 17th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Just seems like a lot of players compared to other teams even those teams below us. On the other side with the spanish speaking contingent at whatever club they play Barcelona and real are always going to be a massive pull. Think reducing the squad size would definitely keep our players happier though. Ecclestone has turned down a contract extension because he is worried about opportunities and how long will the likes of nemeth, pacheco, darby, ayala stay settled? Clearing out voronin, degen, dossena, kyrgiakos, itandje will let these better players through and unite the squad more. That way we would see more youth in the carling cup, on the bench and more quality.

Digger - November 20th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

retryboy i don’t think having two defensive midfielders on the field is that essential, yes he’s good and i would prefer to keep him but this is a liverpool squad that is crying out for another striker, i really want to see Aguero play for us. yes he’s expensive but everything which is pure quality is.

look at the team below man and tell me if it is a improvement on

———————reina
johnson—-carra —-agger —-insua
kuyt—-gerrard—-aqua—-riera
———torres—–aguero—-

now that looks like a team to me, i would offer 36mill plus babel etc or whatever i really see this aguero kid as someone who can play by himself up front or behind torres….

so yes sell masch…. we also have lucus, who some may hate but the kid is doing a job….love or hate it