Monday 8 June 2009

Guardiola talks with Mascherano

Argentinian newspaper Clarín claims that Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has talked with Liverpool defensive midfielder and Argentine international Javier Mascherano (24).

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Mascherano and Fiorentina defensive midfielder and Brazilian international Felipe Melo (25) are two candidates to replace Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivorian international Yaya Touré (26) if the latter would leave this summer.

Melo has been followed by Barcelona for several years now and the excellent relationships between the player's agent Rodri - who also represents Barcelona player Dani Alves - and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain would make a transfer more likely (read more here).

The paper nevertheless indicates that a possible transfer of Mascherano wouldn't necesarily mean the exit of Touré and that the Argentinian midfielder could be signed to strenghten the midfield. The news could also be a way to put pressure on the renewal negotiations with Touré.

British tabloid The Sun meanwhile claims that Barcelona is preparing a 22,5 million euro° bid for Mascherano, trying to take advantage of the financial problems the English Premier League club would be facing.

Read more:
Mascherano ideal candidate to strengthen midfield
Toure rejects first renewal offer
Offer for Fiorentina midfielder Felipe Melo

17 comments:

pep said...

22,5 million euro =

32 million us dollar
20 million british pound

jordy said...

no need for him. why spend 22,5 million (I think it will be more btw) when you have toure and sergi busquets. First of all it will slow down the grow of our youngster. I like the profile of the ones we have more because they're big and good headers. we don't need another small player in the midfield. The wage mascherano asks will be even more than toure wants i geuss!
And technically he's a lot less than busquets or toure. he's a fine destructor but his passing is really not well.

Anonymous said...

this is not good . I really don't like the way they are treating yaya he is one of the main reasons for driving the team forward. I Really think he should get a better contract :( . I like mascerano but yaya I think is better.

umessi10 said...

Buy Mascherano if u want to but keep Yaya for god's sakes. Without him , the midfield is just incomplete.
And why are they concentrating on midfield when what we really need is a LW which should imo be the priority.

Anonymous said...

we gonna sell yaya for this guy??? Masch cant even pass the ball properly... this is insane. Yaya is our beast!! I just hope PEP doesnt make this mistake

LeónDragón said...

...mascherano is not that type of backup...he's very strong on his position...but think after all we had in the past,with toure,we have a new type of player on this position,who showed that he made us stronger...tall,strong and good also in the air,not to forget his brilliant techniec...when he came,he showed some weak points...but since became stronger and stronger...and i believe that this was just the beginning of his development...to bring mascherano is killing toure...and don't think he deserves it...because toures future seems also brighter than mascheranos...he will acquire more skills than mascherano,if he don't have them yet already...he deserves a pay rise,no doubt,he was one of our best this season,on the way to overcome vieira on his position as a defensive midfielder with offensive skill and a bit of playmaker qualities...el vive toure!!!!!...nice to see that all here have the same thoughts about this...

Aussie Barca Fan said...

I am very, very concerned about the situation with Yaya. It makes no sense to sell Yaya to buy Masch. This could be a huge mistake. I am worried that we could lose him even less than what we will pay for Masch!

Iwein said...

keeep touré!

but i do think melo would be great- remember:
xavi iniesta touré (keita busquets melo)

Exarch said...

Melo is more than welcome, but Toure is too valuable to sell.

I remember the 07-08 season many onn this blog deemed Toure expendable, I hope the Barca board wake up and realise this guy is the shit!!!

Aside from Essien, there really is no replacement on the mkt!!

Justin said...

We don't need a short defensive midfield. Xavi and Iniesta are small enough, if Macherano in there as well we would be outmuscled in the midfield everytime. One tall two shorts are the way to go for us.

Anonymous said...

You guys dont know masch, he reads the game extremely well, he tackles extremely well, and he is better in transition than yaya (he starts counter attacks better), you say he cannot pass well but that is also very wrong, his vision is better than yayas. Trust me, trust Pep, trust Maradona, trust Valdano, trust Barca, he is the best DM in the world.

And remember that Kaka threat next season..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AH7aG0wc8U

Consider it neutralized.

Anonymous said...

Yaya is a vital player we should keep.We need tall players like Yaya and Busquets in the position, especially when we fight against English clubs. We can keep a ball because of them.

koko=barca said...

Please NO to this guy. All he does is hurting people. No vision or what so ever. Yaya is 5 times better player than Masch. Selling YAYA and buying this crap will be the most stupid move ever.

tero said...

No,not him,please.Renewal of Toure should be our main goal

Steve said...

Put Mascherano in center back for a champions league final and see what happens.

He's a good player, but Touré is versatile and has huge potential to improve further.

FCB said...

FFS keep toure. we don't need another defensiv middfilder when we already have the best!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

We can have both! I also think he would be better at covering the threat of Kaka next year. But Yaya is better.

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