No offence to Esteban Cambiasso, but he always seems to look older than he actually is. Even when he was playing for Real Madrid in his early twenties, he looked more like a player coming to the end of his career with his receding hairline. Still remarkably only 29, since leaving Spain for Inter Milan, the Argentinean midfielder has been the central lynchpin in both Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho league winning teams over the last six seasons. For Argentina, he has also been in the past a critical figure and has 44 caps for his country, although he has fallen out of favour with Diego Maradona recently. For these, and many other reasons, I welcome the reports coming out of Italy that he could be used as a makeweight in the deal for Javier Mascherano.
It is widely believed that Inter Milan are not prepared to pay more than €25million for the services of Mascherano and according to the Italian media, Inter are prepared to add Cambiasso as part of the deal to get their man. Mascherano has regularly been quoted questioning his future at Anfield, and with Rafa Benitez now at Internazionale, the possibility of a move to join his mentor in Italy looks to be increasingly likely. The Argentinean captain is a fantastic defensive midfield player but if he truly wants to leave the club, I think the best thing for Liverpool would be to allow him to. Of course, €25million is nowhere near enough for such a class player, and the stalemate that may have ensued between Inter and Liverpool over the transfer could have hampered Liverpool rebuilding the squad.
The news about Cambiasso is then doubly welcome then as the deal would both provide us with a good amount of cash to improve other areas of the team while also providing Liverpool with a ready made replacement. It could actually be argued that we would be getting a better player than Mascherano. 3 years Mascherano’s senior, Cambiasso has vast experience of top level club competition. Now a Champions League winner after Mourinho team’s treble success last season, the Argentinean defensive midfielder has all the attributes to fill the void left by Masch. An integral player in getting Inter to the final of Europe’s premier competition, the 29 year old provided the solid base required for the Italian side to progress through the rounds. Inter’s success in the competition was in no small part down to their tight defence with their display in Barcelona at the Nou Camp testament to their abilities.
Protecting the back four which included Walter Samuel and Lucio, Cambiasso was helped in his cause by either his Argentinean team-mate Javer Zanetti or Thiago Motta, who both provided a screen to prevent opposition attacks, allowing the front four of Wesley Sneijder, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev to create chances on goal, more often than not through fast counter-attacks.
Cambiasso is not merely adept at intercepting passes and breaking up opposition attacks, he is also a threat in the opposition penalty box too, somewhere he is a much greater threat than Mascherano ever was. One of the big problems for Liverpool last season was the lack of goals from central midfield and Cambiasso could be the ideal man to add a greater goal threat from this area. His best season was the 2007/08 season when he scored eight goals in all competitions from central midfield, and he scored a crucial goal against Chelsea in the home leg of the Champions League tie last season.
Overall then, if Rafa is willing to let Cambiasso go as part of the deal for Mascherano, I for one would feel it would be a great deal for Liverpool FC, getting a great central midfield player in the prime of his career.
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cambiasso + milito in a straight swap, no problem!
He will be 30 next month! Hardly the transfer age to get exited about. Given our finances, not surprised that we are off-loading our best players and looking at pensioners instead.
Let us just get the money from Masch sell. And invest it in a CDM and a winger. Lots of good defensive midies are available in the market.
ramires is a good player…should try to get him..~
30 years old does not make him an pensioner, in that holding position they get better with age, look how good Claude Makelele was at Real & Chelsea, the best we saw of him at those 2 clubs was when he was well into his 30s, in his 20s he wasnt that well known. 25m Euro + Cambiasso (providing he wants to play for us) would be a good deal. No point in keeping Javier if he does not want to play for us anymore.
Were this to be true then it would be a satisfactory deal. If Javier wants out and admit it he is always the player most probable to foul and be red-carded, then let him go.
Javier simply cannot control his temper on the field and has resorted to foul after foul in most matches that I have witnessed. He really is becoming a liability to the rest of the team.
I don’t know on what to consider as my hair loss will not slow down and seems to get faster, does anything really work? I will buy anythnig that works!