I read on the Daily Mail website today that Barcelona were “closing in” on Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano after offering £12m plus Alexander Hleb. I thought to myself if we accept such a bid then I will eat my hat. Roy Hodgson allayed those fears a few hours later when he said that Masch’s departure was not imminent:
“As far as I am concerned, he is a Liverpool player and will be until the day somebody signs him – that day does not seem to be imminent. At the moment I can quite categorically state there has been no offer from any club for Javier Mascherano and, as a result, I don’t see why I should – every day – put his loyalty or desire to play for the club in doubt.”
Of course, everyone knows that Mascherano wants to leave, even after Argentina’s match with Republic of Ireland on Wednesday he stated that he wanted to leave the English lifestyle as well as paying tribute to Liverpool fans and the club. One of the main problems that has been mooted for Barca not bidding for the player is that the Catalan club lack funds. Masch’s representative Horacio Zandonadi has expressed in recent days that Liverpool are not holding out for an extortionate sum but Barcelona still haven’t lodged a bid. The solution maybe to add players in part exchange and it has been speculated that Hleb would be that player.
I seriously doubt though that Liverpool would be interested in the player as we are not currently lacking for midfield players. Where we are lacking though is at left back. It has also been speculated both in the Spanish and Argentinean press that Barca’s Brazilian left back Maxwell could be added as a makeweight in the deal. For me, if a deal has to be made with Barca then this seems to be the logical solution. With Mascherano wanting to go, Barcelona seemingly the only club interested, and us needing a left back, it really could be a satisfactory deal for all sides.
So what would we be getting if Maxwell was part of any deal? The Brazilian left back is now 28 after previously having spells at Ajax and Inter Milan. After playing in the youth ranks of Cruzeiro, he transferred to Ajax in 2001 at the age of 19 before he had made a senior appearance for the Brazilian club. He proceeded to break into the Dutch team’s starting eleven and was voted the Dutch player of the year for his performances at left back in the 2003/04 season. He unfortunately suffered a serious injury the following campaign though which kept him out for a long period and he would not play for the Amsterdam club again.
He joined Inter Milan on a free transfer during the 2006 January transfer window after his contract was terminated with Ajax with only 6 months to go. He was only officially announced as an Inter player though in June after complications with Italy’s non-EU quota system, but he began to establish himself in the Italian club’s team during the 2006/07 season. After firstly playing at left back, he was moved up field to become a left winger after the arrival of Christian Chivu and helped Inter to their second straight Serie A title in the 2007/08 campaign. After another season with Inter he was transferred to Barcelona for the start of last campaign.
He initially started the season as backup for first choice left back Eric Abidal but after the Frenchman’s injury problems, Maxwell became Pep Guardiola’s regular first choice and established himself in the team playing in 36 matches as Barca won the Spanish league and got to the semi-finals of the Champions League, He is certainly an attacking full back, but with his good speed and passing ability he would really complement Fabio Aurelio in the position, with both providing good defensive cover as well as having the ability to go forward.
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Barca need him and maybe he doesn’t want to leave, that’s the problem??
You cannot be serious!!!
Agree
Straight swap Krkic 1 problem solved.
The problem?
Well this is REAL life and not playstation fantasy football…… that is the problem.
They can give us Maxwell but he’s not worth more than £10 million if that so they’ll still have to folk out £20 + …
The only players that would be good for us from Barca are unrealistic ones like Bojan, Pedro, Iniesta…
Just the £25 – £30 million will do Barca … Thanks!
Masch needs to prove that his heart is at Liverpool again to convince us.
convince wt…he does’nt want to stay..its as obvious as d sun cumin from d east….barca cn jst giv d cash..no players needed…we’ll sign bridge n hopfully a striker wid d money..
Maxwell is a trully awful left back. Did’nt anyone see him in the champions league last season, in particular his dire performance against Arsenal. Aurelio and Insua and much better.
Masc is playing sunday as of friday. Whether the city deal just gone through affects this who knows. Kuyt plays as does ngog. Agger left back.
I would only sell for hard cash, not for less than £30 million – and only if it is done quickly. In the meantime, I hope Roy is doing his homework on bringing in players like Defour, Banega and an exceptional young striker to make up for the loss of The Monster. Maxwell is a decent player but certainly not in the £10 million category as suggested by Nivster at 5:44 pm.
Maxwell is from argentina fool!!
Think thats a good shout, hes not going to be first choice now that theyve signed adriano so i could see that happening. He has been Barcas best player in pre season and i think he would be a brilliant buy for us.
I dont understand how Mascherano became so cheap lately when other teams are selling much older players for some hard cash.
hell noo !! maxwell is not good enough IMO….we should go 4 Abidal…he’s a great left back..if barca don’t have enough cash,then any possible deal should be any 1 of the following..
Abidal + 15-18mill
Bojan + 15mill
Basquets + 5-10mill
Ibrahimovic – straight swap
Pedro + 12 mill
if not hold out for NO LESS than 28 mill !
Mascherano is a powerful and tough player. He also has a lot of sway in Argentina; if I am not mistaken he was one of the key people behind Mardonna becoming the countries coach. That’s why Mascherano is Argentina’s captain. Mascherano wanted to go to Barcelona last year and wants to move again this year. We should have let him leave last year; I don’t care how good a player is if he does not want to be on the team he should leave. Also, I have not heard if Mascherano has put in a transfer request yet. If he does he forfeits any money he would have made from his sale to another team and this would give LFC more money so they could sell him at a lower price and make the same money. Last season after he did not get the move he wanted to Barcelona when he scored his goal he kissed the LFC badge. At that point I really thought he had changed his mind and decided he was a Liverpool Player. Unfortunately I was mistaken, but so is life. I normally despise how Lucas plays (not him personally though) but he seems to be coming into his own and he is a more defensive minded midfielder. Also, Stevie G has played the “holding” midfielder role before to great result. He may not prefer that position but he is great at it and can control the game from that position leaving Aquilani, Cole, and Kuyt free to push forward and support Torres. Jay Spearing is also coming into his own along with Daniel Pacheco both who in my opinion should see more playing time this season. This leaves us pretty stacked in Midfield so we don’t really need to but any midfielders. That being said I like Defour so I think he would be good for the future as well as right now but with LFC having so many issues with “sick note” players the fact that he was out most of last season does not bode well.
After analyzing our squad and reading match reports for pre-season qualifiers I honestly think the area that will be our biggest concern is Central Defender. I have not seen Wilson play and I would like to know his Height, Weight, and Speed but if he was a purchase for the future and not for the starting 11 (or worked into the starting 11 at Carragher’s expense) this season we have a big hole in defense and we will be punished. I believe an honest assessment from anyone will show that Carragher is going downhill fast (surprisingly so) mostly due to his loss of pace. Seeing him play 2 seasons ago to last season is like watching night and day. He really needs to move into a back-up role or maybe a player/assistant coaching role. Watching the USA v. England world cup game was a prime example. Jozy Altidore owned Carragher, I was honestly embarrassed for Carragher. I just don’t understand how he lost so much pace so quickly I know he is getting older but still. Anyway I think our biggest need is a tall, strong, fast, smart and young Central Defender to pair up with Agger. Though Skrtel had an amazing first season his limitations have been greatly exposed since his injury and I don’t believe he should be in the starting 11 but he is still a great squad player to have. So with Agger moving over that leaves the LB position open but that I saw a story that Wilson was willing to work in the LB role. That would be a great place for him to learn the defense get some first team experience and build confidence to move over the CB latter. If we got a new young starting 11 CB, King Carra could also back-up Johnson in the RB role so we would be covered their as well.
Review, Monster Masch can leave and does not really need to be replaced directly with an outside player. But if he is we should focus on younger center mid-field players. I think our most pressing concern is a really Top-Notch younger Central Defender. I believe that Micah Richards would be a good fit and he is English so it would help to fill the “homegrown” quota. A downside might be his attitude I believe but I am not sure that he has some attitude issues.
Get a life coley you arse bandit
In the present market £20-25m will do!
Then we can by a leftback that we really want. That’s if we still need one! (Aurelio & Kelly). We need a forward and the money from the sale of Mascherano would get us a really good one!
nice one U throbber!
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ! MAXWELL?! Aurelio’s better than him. I think we need a frontman more than a left-back. We have Insua and Aurelio at left-back. Therefore, I would say Bojan + 15M or no deal.