As if expected no new investors come into Liverpool over the next couple of months, the rebuilding process in the playing squad at Melwood will require some tough decisions. With Rafa Benitez still engaged in meetings with senior members of the Reds board, no doubt one of the main sticking points will be over transfer funds. To be realistic, a budget taken over and above player sales seems pretty unlikely and Benitez is said to be fighting to get 100% of the money from the players he sells in the summer to be utilised in reconstructing the squad for next season. I have already talked about the tough decisions that need to be made on some players in a previous article talking about Alberto Aquilani, and now I would like to extend the debate to talk about other players, including Javier Mascherano.
As a player I have great admiration for Mascherano, he fights tooth and nail in every match, and plays an essential role in central midfield, protecting the back four and securing the team defensively. As Argentinean captain under Diego Maradona, Mascherano’s reputation has risen around the world and illustrious names such as former Argentinean international Jorge Valdano have described the 25 year old as the best central midfielder in the world. In his mid 20s as well, Mascherano has not even hit the prime of his career yet, and may go on to bigger and better things, but with Liverpool’s current financial plight, is there a case to sell him to help Liverpool’s rebuilding process take place?
Last summer it was speculated that Mascherano wanted to move to Barcelona and that the Catalan club were prepared to offer £30m for the Argentinean’s services. Although it would be unlikely we would get that much for him this summer, would it be worth selling the player to give Benitez those much needed transfer funds? Let’s say he was sold for between £20-25m, there is every possibility that we could replace Mascherano with a good, but probably not as talented, defensive midfielder for a lower price as well as freeing up funds for that much needed striker. Perhaps we could £8-10m on a replacement for Mascherano while getting £15-17m to spend on a new striker if we take the optimistic valuation of Masch being sold for £25m.
In the end there will be Pros and cons to any such sale. I have listed some below:
PROS – The sale of Mascherano frees up money to spend on a new striker if the sale money is saved for reinvestment in the team rather than servicing the debt.
-Lassana Diarra could be available from Real Madrid for £10m in the summer as the Spanish club look to offload some of their unwanted players to make room for new signings. He could make the ideal replacement for Mascherano and would be available for a relatively cheap price.
CONS – We could lose a world class player who is about to enter the prime of his career. At 25, Masch is coming to the age of maturity and could be even more of a colossal influence in midfield than he is now.
-His tackling and defensive duties would be sorely missed in midfield and any replacement would have to fill some big shoes. We could be weakening our defence by selling the Argentinean captain.
For me it would be a very tough decision to take but they are ones that will be needed to be taken this summer to reconstruct a new squad without new investment. Of course, it is predicated on whether Rafa can convince the board to allow all the money from player sales to be made available for buying players, but if the Spanish manager gets his way, then it is an option he could consider. Although it may be unlikely considering Mascherano may be on the verge of signing a new contract at the club, Rafa must look twice at the possibility of his sale. On top of Gerrard and Torres, the Reds squad doesn’t have that many saleable assets above £20m and he needs to consider all options. What do you think he should do?
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Not a tough one, dont sell why would you start destroying the spine of the team it just doesnt work. Best defensive midfielder in the world lass is good but his not mascherano simple as that you dont let him leave at any cost. Plus he would make barcelona even better and therefore we would drop down the pecking order, you made a similar point about aquilani i suggest you stop writing these pointless articles.
I agree, I’d sell Mascherano for £25m and spend it all on a Striker. We don’t need another DM player. Lucas and Gerrard can play central midfield. It may just stop RB playing too defensively with 2 holding midfielders. Personally I would keep Aquallini as I think the lad has genuine talent and can be utilised in a number of positions. I think you could play him on the left of a diamond midfield.
Rohit totally agree with your comment. Mascherano has been our second best player this season after Reina. He has improved his passing alot also this season.Also as to the last sentence “what do you think he should do ?”
He should f**k off he has had enough time the board, the high profile players, and alot of fans all want him out. He is as much to blame as the Yanks with his wasting of the majority of transfer funds on s**t. Add also to that his rants,guarantees, playing players out of position,stubbornness and non-existence of man-management skills and motivation techniques.
Why he is still there is a small matter of £16m. If he loves the fans and club so much he should walk away and forego his £16m so the club can move forward.
Nathan just sums up what most or allot of so called lfc fans are thinking? what a joke that is selling mascherano, and buy the way if the little man does go he will not be sold for such a feeble price at 25 mill when we paid nearly 20 mill for him, er wake up for gods sake, its fans like this who just show no class and no idea as to the what liverpool need, take it from me there are far other players who can be sold way before him, its that clear. reira babel degen spearing daby nemeth aurelio itandge and cava all can go and probably are on the way, you can add el zhar and san jose and plessies el zhar too, all that will get you close to 32 mill, even if we needed money get ngog out too, but if liverpool have got to the stage when gerrard reina torres mascherano have to be sold we are finished for the next 10 years, FACT,
mascherano should partner either gerrard or a new center mid, martinez or eva or even just play him as the one holding player, but to sell him is a just bullshite.
and for anyone to say 25 mill needs to see the doctor,, we brought him for 18.6 mill for gods sake, you mug Nathan you…….
i would only sell javier as a very last resort! my cheaper option would be sunderland’s skipper, cana who, i believe, is potentially a superb player. i also believe that a price tag of £30m IS realistic for masch and if we get a replacement for £10 – £15m and with the sale of some fringe players we could gather enough for a quality striker but my one hope would be that a replacement manager would spend it!
It’s essential for Liverpool to keep their best players in order to remain an attractive team for potential players. Yes, we need the fund but selling our best players like Mascherano is not the way to go. Hopefully we’ll get a genuine investor this summer.
A BIG BIG ……NO…..you do NOT sell your best players, if you want to be successful….full stop.!!!!!
YNWA
I fully agree with what,SAMUEL CHARLES Says…who is spot-on with his selection of players that, need to be sold.
YNWA
Every player has his price, and it may come down to whether or not Masch wants to go, like Alonso last year. Rafa brought in Maxi partly to give Masch company, I believe. Expect to hear many more comments during the World Cup from Messi saying how much he wants Masch to join him at Barca.
But he can only go if Barca are prepared to pay big money – well over 30 million.
I’d keep mascherano. if we aren’t bought and have to sell it would be. Benayoun-8 million. Babel-9 million.kuyt-11 million. N’GOG-4 million. Skrtel-8 million. Riera-6 million. El zhar-1.5 million. Degen-1 million. Lucas-5 million. We’ve supposedly 5 + million left over from sales last year. Total money from sales= 58.5 millon. Players IN- Van der vaart-6 mill. Turan-10 mill. Simon Kjaer-10 mill. Higuain-20 mill. Ever Banega-8 mill. Luis Felipe(left back)-4.5 mill.Total spend 58.5 mill.New left back,centre back,2 wingers+striker just what we need and all money spent is got through sales.
SHANE, YOU ARE RIPPING THE TEAM TOM BITS, why would you sell skrtel for a snip at 8 when we paid 6 for him, he is a international center half and dont tell me he is rated at 8 mill when a english center half is rated at 15 mill like the useless upson? you also rate the value at 8 mill for yossi, why would sell yossi unless we could go out and replace with silva or mata which at the moment is not going to happen, you are ripping the team up buy selling some good sqaud players, then we need to spend more money to repace, we need just 4- 5 quality additions. now if we have money you can sell who you want but why sell yossi, skrtel, kuyt and then need at least 20 -30 mill to replace the squad players needed, if we had the money we would ideally buy mata and silva and lahm but and keep the kuyts and yossis…
we don’t have any money and unless we are bought the only way we’ll get new players is to sell. Skrtel isn’t a guarenteed starter anymore and simon kjaer would be replacing him who’s younger and highly rated. Yossi is talking of leaving and with turan, van der vaart, maxi we’d have proper wingers who can unlock defences unlike kuyt. yes he does a job and is a good squad player who i’d keep if we had money to spend. Lets face it the players we have didn’t do the job and if anythin are goin backwards. maybe if we’re bought then buy silva, mata or even villa but unless that happens there’s no point in bein sentimental wit players who are just making up the numbers. we want to win trophies and we’re not goin to get much money from our other flops and we can forget about the yanks doin anythin good for us by giving money. best thing they can do is SELL SOON.