Tuesday 9 June 2009

Mascherano open to offer from Barcelona

Asked about the rumours linking Liverpool defensive midfielder and Argentine international Javier Mascherano (24) with a move to Barcelona (read more here), the player's agent Walter Tamer has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that the player would be happy to move:

"If a club like Barcelona wants to bring you into their ranks, after they have won everything and completed such a brilliant season, the player will of course say yes and will want to play there. It would be an honour for Javier that a club like Barcelona is watching him, and even more when they just had an incredible season. I think playing with Barcelona would be very easy for him. Sometimes we joke and say the only thing he should have to do is run around, steal the ball and give it to one of the stars in front of him.

I believe that a transfer would be possible. I have already spoken with Txiki Begiristain before, but we have not been in contact for a while now. If something comes up, we will talk with Liverpool to know what their position is about Javier leaving, and with Barcelona to find out how interested they exactly are. What if Xabi Alonso also leaves? Benitez sure would not want to see two midfielders go. It would be difficult, although Xabi's future does not depend on Mascherano and vice-versa. Two transfers is possible, but it will be easier for the one who's the first to leave."

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez has agreed to let Mascherano or Xabi Alonso go. Because of financial problems, Liverpool will have to sell first before they can sign new players this summer. An offer of 30 million euro° is thought to be enough to sign the Argentinian.

Mascherano would already have confirmed to Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola that he would like to join Barcelona. With Touré and Keita having to play the Africa cup in the beginning of next year, Guardiola would see Mascherano as the ideal addition the squad.

Valencia regional sports paper Superdeporte claims that Barcelona has been following Mascherano for several years and that the scouting reports are positive. Barcelona would already have been close to signing the player in 2007 when the investment company that owned the transfer rights of the player couldn't find an agreement with Liverpool on the transfer fee.

Read more:
Mascherano ideal candidate to strengthen midfield
Liverpool and Juventus interested in Abidal
Guardiola talks with Mascherano

61 comments:

pep said...

30 million euro =

42 million us dollar
26,5 million british pound

R10FCB said...

renew toure, than sign mascherano. javier will definetly help us when toure and keita have to leave for the africa cup and i think he will be an awesome signing for barca if we decide to sign him.

wanted47 said...

really guys i dont like this guy because of his attitude on the picth..discuss a lot with the ref!

but i must say he knows how to read the game!
this video shows it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm45jyf9gpk

renew yaya and bring in mascherano!

Manzo said...

WHAT THE FUCKKKK??????
Our arch rivals sign a top player, a player worth mor den 60mil...
wat do we do? sign a 30year old whos probably reached his max and chase after over priced DM? Whats the trick? didnt Laporta say # top players? if this is what he meant i think he should just remain in da office..... GET IBRA OR RIBERY!!!!

Manzo said...

# meant 3

umessi10 said...

30 million euro ??

I thought our budget was 30 million euro :?

Make Ribery a priority and then think abt signing a DM. LW is one thing what Barca is lacking and filling that spot asap is a necessity .
Give Yaya the extension and think abt a make shift DM who'll come in cheap.
Even Mascherano is OK but that only after we get Ribery.

fcbee said...

We're not a club who spends millions, Manzo. Guess Overmars was our most expensive player so far (40 million euro, and Petit could have been included in that sum). So just don't set your hope on expensive players.

Anonymous said...

i thnk kaka for 68.5m is not good signing for madrid manzo!

i forgot my name said...

he is 24 and not 30

James said...

I think Manzo was referring to Forlan (the other rumor) with the 30 year old comment. :P

maximi83 said...

for me he would be the perfect addition to the brilliant barca midfield...

so pep could decide every game which dm (Yaya, Keita, Busquets, or Mschearno) should play.
so we could play with two dm and iniesta at the front against better opponents and against weaker opponents with iniesta in midfiled one dm (Yaya, Mascerano, Busquets) and more real strike in front of him them.

if he doesn't cost over 20 mio € I would buy him.
The only con against him is that he would stop the good development of sergi busquets because he wouldn't get as much playing time as this season.

i forgot my name said...

OMGG! PLEASE HELP!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/06/09/1314427/real-madrid-agree-fee-with-valencia-for-david-villa-report

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/06/09/1314410/under-appreciated-yaya-toure-could-leave-barcelona-agent

barca4life said...

Since u like madrid spending 60 million so much you should go follow perez. We are barca we do not pay world record sums for players. The team is basically complete so if we sign players its only a few areas that need strengthening. Or maybe you would have us sell messi to sign Ronaldo and sell iniesta to sign ribery.

Manzo said...

Well maybe Barca aint a club to spend millions but we have just made history... dont u think we have something to prove? i mean we are currently the best club in europe what are we doing signing average players whereas we ont even have financial problems?

James said...

"what are we doing signing average players whereas we ont even have financial problems?"

heh, would you like us to develop financial problems?

barca4life said...

We dont have financial problems because we dont spend crazy amounts. Laporta has brought our debt way down since he took over. We are signing players that can be backups to messi etoo iniesta xavi toure etc. And as for them being average, forlan has won the pichichi twice since he was in spain and outscored etoo and messi and henry in spain this year. He has never won the champions league so he will be hungry and man utd dumped him and laughed at him so he has something to prove. he has played for atletico so he hates real madrid as much as we do. Better yet he is 30 so in a few years bojan and gai can take over. Mascherano is 24 and was described as the "best player on the argentine team" by none other than diego maradona. Plays for liverpool so he wants to prove something against united and he also has never won the champions league so he would be hungry. He has a good rapport with messi so that is also good.

barca4life said...

I admit i was hoping for ribery at one stage and ibra as well, but i dont want us to spend stupid money on these players. Certainly not the 60 or 70 million inter want for zlatan or the 50 million for "one leg" that bayern want for ribery. I want us to compete just as much as you, but i dont want us to sink ourselves in debt and have to end up selling messi or iniesta to cover the debt

Hilal said...

Ok everyone needs to just relax. First of all we have yet to sign ANYBODY so freaking out is pointless really. Untill any of these rumors are officially confirmed by the club then they are just rumors so lets not go overboard and start critisizing our transfer policies when we havent actually done anything yet. Oh and Forlan would be an excellent player coming off the bench if we were to sign him so I dont see what all the fuss is about. He scores some incredible goals. Its not like we would be getting him to be our main striker, he will be a backup and what a backup to have. Either Eto'o will stay, or he will leave and we will replace him with a top class striker, but having Forlan as a backup either way can only be a good thing.

As for the Yaya story, it does worry me but not too much. I have a feeling this is just his agent doing his job and trying to get him the best deal possible. Yaya wants to stay and im sure we want to keep him, i dont see how we couldnt. His agent is making noise to try and bully the club into giving him a better deal. Its something that all good agents do, especially after such a stellar season. The way I see it Yaya deserves an excellent contract that will tie him down for at least 4 years. I say give it to him. Last year he played through immense pain and this year he stepped up when he needed to playing as a CB and doing a good job. Pay the man, he has earned it.

Anonymous said...

Yes, we are Barcelona, buying Caceres, Henrique and Milito for 50m euros. Not Kaka for 60m euros.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess Manzo, you just started supporting Barcelona this season?

If we do sign Masch what's going to happen to Busquets? This season the team selection is going to be a headache for Pep.

barca4life said...

Caceres and Henrique are good young players with big potential. Caceres looked really good for Uruguay versus Brazil despite the fact that that Uruguay lost. Be careful Caceres doesnt make you eat your words in the coming years.

Anonymous said...

We should not buy any central midfielder. We have 5 great central midfielders and Pique, Marquez and Thiago can slot in and do the job if called upon. It is especially stupid to buy a player for 25m euros to be played for a couple of weeks when Keita and Yaya is gone.

barca4life said...

The reason we want masch anonny is that yaya and keita will be gone to the ACN for 1.5 months, that leaves Xavi Iniesta Sergi and possibly Thiago and yth team products to cover for that time. We have 6 competitions to play in as well and have to travel to Abu Dhabi mid season. So we need more players for the midfield. Add in yaya's contract problems and you can see why we would be interested in mascherano

barca4life said...

The problem with marquez and pique filling in is what happens to our central defence? we have puyol pique marquez henrique and muniesa. Milito looks to be still a way off and if henrique is to return caceres will have to leave on loan due to the 3 non-eu player limit. So lets say puyol gets injured in january do you really want a defence with pique and henrique and a 17 year old to back them up at what could be a crucial time in our season? Even if we say thiago depending on an 18 year old to back up xavi iniesta sergi is a bit optimistic

Manzo said...

Well Anonymous for your info... I have supported barcelona since i knew football, De La Pena, Guardiola, rivaldo, romario i was ther... paris, i was ther, the past 2 seasons without a trophy I was there, galacticos I WAS THERE!!! and I wouldnt like to see it again unless in FCB! Kaka, Ronaldo, Villa, Ribery even IBRAHIMOVIC is being linked with the club and hes prepared to leave! And how do u wanna respond? By throwing Guy, Henrique, xavi torres at them? I mean thru the season we had money coming in left right and centre, Nike, La liga, Copa nd uefa! Sure we got a 5-star team but ever thot that we could reach 6-star?

James said...

But the Galacticos ultimately failed :P

And if Ronaldinho was too ugly to play for them then I'm pretty sure they won't get Ribery!

Manzo said...

James whats the point if we arent gonna get him either?

barca4life said...

Yeah we had money coming in but remember we had to renew messi at the start of the year and xavi and iniesta i think. puyol marquez valdes toure etoo all need extensions and we have to pay out millions in bonuses after last year to pep and the team. Players like toure and hleb had clauses saying we would pay further bonuses if we won the league and champions league when they joined barca. Running barcelona is not cheap and laporta knows what he is doing. He delivered 3 league titles and 2 champions league titles in 6 years. I trust his judgement

Anonymous said...

barca4life: They will not be gone for 1.5 months. The whole tournament lasts about 20 days and we dont know if Mali and Ivory Coast will both reach the final, which is unlikely.

Even if both Puyol and and Busquets get injured during those 3 weeks, we still have Xavi, Iniesta and Pique in the midfield, with Marquez and Henrique at the back. Abidal, Muniesa and Botia can cover. Besides, Caceres has EU passport, and maybe Milito is ready 8 months from now as well. New DM for 25m is seriously not needed for those 3 weeks.

Anonymous said...

what Barca should do this summer:

1) Buy Ribbery. Offer Bayern i dont know, 40-50 mil and Hleb/Gudjohnsen. If we have to, offer Eto'o. Then Henry can play as a Central Attacker with Ribery and Messi on both sides.
2)A.Cole. We need a good defender on the left and Abidal...well...ever since he came back from his injury he's been shit.
3)A center forward. If Forlan is indeed ready for Barca, there is no need for Ibrahimovic since he is so overrated and never worth the 70 mil Inter wants. Just look at him play! He just waits for the ball to come to him, no runing etc!
And he can't score in the big competitions (CL and swedens national team). IS that a top striker? Just because he can score in Italy, where everyone acts/falls easily and the referees are corrupt? No thx to Ibra.
4) A defencive midfielder like Mascherano. Sure, that'll mean Busquets will have less playtime but when Keita (sell him!!!!) and Toure (renew him!!!9 go to africa, Mascherana and Bousquets can easily get enough play time.

More isn't needed at Barca. We already have the best team, we just need better subs

James said...

Manzo - what if we get Ribery? We could sell Eto'o to fund Ribery and then have Forlan/Henry to lead the line.

barca4life said...

Annony yes the tournament lasts 20 days but the fatige that the player will feel after travelling to dubai and playing and then travelling back to africa to play on pitches of lesser quality will add up. Not to mention that next year is world cup year so the games are crammed closer together in la liga. God forbid we get toure injured out during the ACN and we have to depend of marquez and to fill in only to hear that puyol has an injury and we are back to xavi iniesta keita sergi alone. Add in a suspension for the champions league quarter final and we could be royally screwed. We definitely need another midfielder. Is it mascherano? I'm not 100 % sure but we do need another one to be safe.

Manzo said...

James i hear what you saying but thats not for us to decide its up to pep and ol i hear about ribery is Chelsea or madrid... neva barca

Anonymous said...

barca4life: We are not paying 25m euros for some player who will play only when half our team are injured or suspended like you envision.

Anonymous said...

When half our team are suspended, that is when we should trust our youngsters like Thiago. When he is not even trusted as a 7th choice backup, he better just leave Barcelona then. But I am sure Pep trusts our youngsters, just like he trusted Busquets to be a solid backup who will only get better with more trust.

tero said...

It would be really disappointing to Busquets if he loses playing time because of Mascherano...I'm not saying that Busquets should have the starting-11 place automatically when Toure and Keita go to ANC but I think that developing youths is more "Barca" than signing a mad dog from Liverpool

barca4life said...

Its crazy to think thiago could come in next season and immediately take over from yaya. Anybody here think thiago should start the clasico? We need more experienced backups. I'm the biggest defender of our youth on this blog, but we do need another midfielder if for the sold fact that hleb and guddy who can both play midfield are leaving and thiago and one other needs to come in.

SJP said...

i live in england and watch the EPL each week and of the many over-hyped players in that league mash, torres and rooney are the only ones that earn some of their praise. before yaya this season mash was best DM in world, also la liga has never known a player like him, mad dog? yes but effective mad dog!

saying that we should not pay more than 20mil for him as yaya is better and busquets need to keep getting playing time, if we lose yaya then def get him, if yaya stays then we should just look for a season long loan of a DM, also if livepool are in financial struggle we should take advantage and get torres, normally it would not be possible but if we offer them etoo (assuming they are going to get rid of him) plus money we would spend on ribery or ibra, then i think they could not turn it down. keep henry for a year, promote gai or adapt bojan to LW and get torres, he and messi together would crush any bus!

Anonymous said...

You dont care about our youth at all. Saying Thiago is not good enough to be 7th or 8th choice in midfield and Muniesa and Botia not good enough to be 7th choice for the CB is not supportive of our youth.

When Keita, Busquets, Yaya, Puyol, Marquez, Iniesta, Milito, Caceres and Abidal are all out, then Thiago and Botia/Muniesa should definitely be given the chance.

James said...

7 or 8? We have 5 midfielders. Iniesta/Xavi/Yaya/Keita/Busquets. There are 3 midfield positions. That means we don't even have enough to cover each position. Even Gudjohnsen and Hleb weren't really good enough for cover and they're both 10+ million euro players. So no, Thiago isn't good enough yet to be the main cover for any midfield position. That doesn't mean he doesn't have the talent to be the lead midfielder one day, which he might be. Let's put these young player's talents into perspective. Thiago wasn't even on the B-Team last year, he just got promoted this previous year. He will get a debut next year and maybe some cameo appearances but mostly he will become a key player for the B-Team. Not every player is Messi and can break into the first at age 18.

Same with the defenders, we have 3 centerbacks we can count on. Pique/Puyol/Marquez. Everyone else is questionable. And our young CBs are certainly not good enough to be full time 1st team players, even backups. Have you seen how skinny they are? Their bodies haven't matured. You're talking about 17 year olds. Pique was a even bitter prospect than them at that age and it took him till 22 years old to get regular appearances. Last year he was 21 years old and was just a spare player for Man U.

Anonymous said...

James, we have 4 players who can play the DM. Pique, Yaya, Marquez and Busquets. If Iniesta, Busquets and Keita are injured then Thiago would still not play because Marquez, Yaya and Xavi form the midfield. Even if Marquez is out as well, then there are Pique who can play DM wit Yaya at CM which is his natural position where he can use his great offensive qualities. Thiago will at most get 2 or 3 games for us next season if he is lucky, If we buy another midfielder, he will get none, and nor will any other youth midfielder.

We have Henrique, Caceres, Milito and Abidal in addition to the three you mention, all in front of Botia (who is faaar from skinny) and Muniesa at CB. Even if we assume Milito retires during next season, that is still 6 players in front of our youth CBs.

James said...

First of all, you can't count cover that way. Just because we have versatile players, doesn't give us depth. If we had 1 bench player that could cover every position, we're still screwed by 1 injury. The fact is we have 5 midfielders for 3 positions, 2 of whom will be away at the African Cup for a period.

Counting the likes of Marquez and Pique at midfield just doesn't make any sense. Like I said we only have 3 CBs that we can rely on, if you count them as midfielders who is playing CB? Counting Abidal as a CB is even more ridiculous because we don't even have cover for a LB. The BEST case scenario for us is if Abidal plays every game at LB, so talking about him covering for other positions is puzzling.

I agree we do have a few other CBs, but Caceres is not good enough yet. If we can't feel comfortable with him on the pitch then he can't be counted on as cover! I remember a couple of times last year Yaya coming back to take the ball from Caceres and gesturing for him to get out of the way so he can't lose it. What it means is he doesn't count, not until he improves. Milito's injury means we can't count on him until he actually comes back. We counted on him coming back last year too and he didn't. Henrique potentially solves all those problems, but then again, Caceres was suppose to as well.

barca4life said...

All i want to know is why the hell everybody wants to move pique from our defence. Pique is our best defender and we would be crazy to move him from CB to DM. Assuming however that marquez pique yaya and sergi can play DM, yaya is gone for a month, lets say he gets an small injury during the ACN and is out for 2 months. Sergi Pique Marquez. If puyol picks up a knock and Sergi has a suspension for a champions league game are you really suggesting we start with Muniesa/Henrique and Pique at the back with marquez in the midfield? Added to which who will come off he bench to cover marquez?

Do you really want a 18 year old thiago to be our change if we end up against a chelsea or arsenal in the first knockout round of the CL? I'm all for giving thiago more time, in fact i'm the one screaming from the rooftops dont buy aguero because it will stunt gai and bojan's growth. So dont tell me about barca's youth. I'm the one everybody is mad at because i'm saying dont bring in benzema so dont tell me about barca's youth. I'm the one talking about deulofeu and icardi getting chances so dont tell me about barca's youth. Thiago will be option # 7 for me. Xavi Toure Iniesta Sergi Keita (new player) Thiago

Anonymous said...

Of course Pique and Marquez is part of the cover for the midfield. It does give us good depth because we can count on class players in midfield even if 3 or 4 midfielders are out, instead of buying a mediocre 6th midfielder (we won't buy an expensive 6th midfielder who won't play much).

We are getting cover for Abidal, that is one of our main objectives, Filipe and lots of other players are mentioned so this means Abidal is ahead of our youth at CB.

We didn't really count on Milito coming back last year, that is why we bought Caceres, Pique and Henrique last summer. Even if Caceres leaves we have good enough cover at CB when Henrique comes. With Pique and Marquez covering the DM incase both Busquets and Yaya are unavailable means that Henrique and the backup left back get more chances.

Two backup fullbacks, a LW and a striker is all that is needed.

barca4life said...

You forget that this year we assumed caceres would be good because he had a good year at recreativo last season. To expect henrique to come in and immediately be good is a big assumption

Anonymous said...

If Yaya is out for 3 months, Sergio is out as well and Puyol too, then even Keita can play the DM. And even if Pep decide to put Keita on the bench and play Pique-Iniesta-Xavi, we would have Marquez and Henrique playing CB or Henrique on the bench with Abidal and Marquez at CB and Filipe or whoever we buy at LB. Pep would have plenty of options in such rare emergencies like you envision barca4life.

Thiago will not get any chances the way you want us to spend barca4life. This is the reality.

20 year old Busquets played the CL final, a player that was not in any means seen as more talented than Thiago before this season.

Anonymous said...

We can't expect any defender to come in and be great, Barcelona is a challenging place to be a defender. We didn't expect Pique to be as good as he was for either, so he was a surprise. Perhaps it tells us that defenders who have climbed the Barcelona youth ranks can more easily adapt to our style, that is an argument for trusting Spain U-21 Botia and Muniesa to do the job as 7th defenders.

barca4life said...

No thiago will get his chance. Keita is 29. he has maybe 1 or 2 years left. Thiago is more like xavi than toure though, a more creative player. However i think thiago should be eased in. Busquets is the exception to the rule, not the example in my opinion.

I agree with time for thiago, but everybody cant go from 0 games to 30 games in 1 season. Look at iniesta, his first few years he started a combined total of 11 games and he got more and more games as time progressed. I believe a similar thing should be done with thiago. I totally agree with you about youth talent and i am happy that somebody else believes in our youth acadmeny, but we also need to give our youth time.

We dont want to rush thiago and end up shattering his confidence. Look at gio, he was rushed a bit and ended up worse off for it. Messi is another example of somebody that was eased in. All i'm saying is that in crunch games that could be played around the time of the ACN we want to have some more experience on the bench, and considering the number of tournaments we have to play and the fact that xavi puyol pique will be going to the confederations cup and the season will be pushed back to accomadate time off before the world cup this year, we really need another midfielder.

We cant possibly expect thiago to do what xavi toure or iniesta does for us if god forbid he has to play against chelsea. A more experienced player like mascherano (not saying him for sure just using an example) would be better equiped to handle that pressure. We agree on most issues annony but we have small differences

barca4life said...

Ahh i like the point about pique coming in but remember pique was 22 when he came back to barca and he had learned from SAF for 4 years in which team he won the CL already, muniesa and botia have the talent, but they are still very young. i want muniesa to start maybe 8 games this season if its possible and play as a sub in maybe another 10 to keep getting the experience.

James said...

"20 year old Busquets played the CL final, a player that was not in any means seen as more talented than Thiago before this season."

Talent & Experience are quite different. Busquets was the anchor a whole year in Barcelona B and helped them to promotion. But we certainly didn't count on him last year as useful cover. (He would have been 7th behind Keita, Guddy, Hleb) He ended up being one of the main cover guys, which is great. But us counting on Thiago to be that cover is simply not good enough. Even this year with Busquets, Keita, Guddy, Hleb we were still lacking in depth. I thought Xavi played way too many games this year. Next year we'll be playing 2 games per week a lot of weeks. The season is also shorter due to the World Cup.

Let's say Iniesta is out for 2-3 weeks. Which is highly likely at some point next year. It happened 3 times this year! Both Keita and Yaya are at ACN. We play Busquets and Xavi, and Marquez in midfield. Pique, Puyol at CB. This is already bad because I consider Busquets good cover but I wouldn't want him int he lineup regularly.

Technically this 'could' work, but we are 1 knock, 1 cold, 1 suspension from being knocked out of a tournament. And what about Xavi, Marquez, Puyol and Pique? They are already in desperate need of rest playing 2 games every single week.

This situation is not a 'rare' emergency. At some point during Keita/Yaya's departure. We're going to have at minimum 1 or 2 injuries. If we happen to have a guy out for another 1-2 days due to a knock, or even a simple yellow card suspension on top of that, we are done.

I want to alleviate your concern about Thiago though. Just because we should get cover doesn't mean he won't play. IF he's good enough, you know he will play. Like your Busquets example. I'm sure all of us fans had rated Busquets behind Hleb and Gudjohnsen on the depth chart but because he was clearly better, he got playing time. The same will apply to Thiago. If he's too good not to play, then he will. But my guess is that he's only 18, he's not good enough yet for 1st team football of any regularity, especially not for a side that's challenging for 3 titles.

Anonymous said...

The AFC is only about 20 days, and you all seem to count on that Mali and Ivory Coast will play in the final which is unlikely. Nobody is saying that Thiago will play regularly next season. All I am saying is that he is good enough for the 3 games or so he will be lucky enough to play. Keita is 29, so he has maybe 1 year left? Keita is in his best years, just like Xavi and other 29 year olds.

The fact remains that if we want Thiago to be eased in, then another midfielder would totally kill Thiago's chances. Thiago will never get any chances with 8 players in front of him in midfield. And Thiago has more experience with the Spain national team as a vital player for them and the star of Athletic than Busquets ever had before he suddenly became a useful player for us.

Your, James', example with Keita, Yaya and Iniesta out at the same time, and Busquets who slot in seems perfectly fine with me. What is so bad with having Busquets play when Iniesta, Keita and Yaya are all out? There are far more pressing needs than another midfielder IMO.

Anonymous said...

You also seem to count on us playing CL knockout rounds when Keita and Yaya are in Africa. Is that reality? I thought The CL knockout rounds were held after the African Nations Cup.

barca4life said...

I'm saying what if yaya comes back injured from the ACN, added to which keita and yaya will have to fly there and fly back, that is after having flown with the rest of the team to abu dhabi for the world club championship and having games backed up in the league. They will be tired by the time they reach back. They wont just go straight to the ACN and come straight back to barca ready to play.

Anonymous said...

Anybody has the schedule for the CL knockout stages?

It is not like Keita and Yaya would need a week to recover from a trip with a plane though. They are fit men in their 20s not 90 year old geriatrics.

Anonymous said...

There is not even a jet lag when playing in Africa, as Angola where the AFC is held has the same time zone as Spain.

barca4life said...

Its not about jet lag, its about the physical drain of playing a ridiculous amount of football over the last year getting very little time off for the summer and having to take a trip mid-season during another even more hectic season. Marc Vivien Foe was totally healthy 20 soemthing year old too and he collapsed and died on the field. Not saying that will happen hear but fatigue will set in. Why not have another experienced player to fill in?

Anonymous said...

Bringing up Foe's death is completely unrelated.

We are on a budget, there are far more pressing needs than a very expensive 6th midfielder.

barca4life said...

Well when last i checked the reports were pep wanted a backup GK LB versatile midfielder and CF. Thats why we are linked with cesc and mascherano

Anonymous said...

We are linked with all types of players, central defenders, left backs, right backs, midfielders, forwards. The contract situation with Yaya has been mentioned as a reason why we are linked with Mascherano.

It all depends on how we see the versatilty of our current players. Are we after a central defender to make Marquez a backup DM? Are we after a left winger who can also play in the center? Are we after a central midfielder to make Iniesta take Henry's position?

My take is that what we need is a left winger and a striker and a couple of backup full backs, but maybe Pep sees Henrique as a backup right back, so we buy a new central defender instead of a right back.

veruss said...

Rather Mascherano than Cesc, certainly for now. Good player, let's get Kun and have a lovely Argentine spine on the go... mmmmmmmmm.

plus, I don't care what people say, Cashley would fit in a treat too.

Anurag said...

why are there so many haters here? mascherano is a really really good player. i dont know what more you want from him, honestly, the guy has been doing really well for his team.

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