Saturday 1 August 2009

Mascherano is in Barcelona

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Liverpool defensive midfielder and Argentine international Javier Mascherano (25) could meet with Barcelona officials today.

Mascherano has arrived today in Barcelona, where Liverpool will play tomorrow a pre-season friendly against Espanyol.

With the option of Shakhtar centre-back Chygrynskiy being almost rejected because of the player's participation in a Champions League qualifier, Barcelona would now again be focusing on signing a midfielder. Mascherano and Arsenal player Cesc would be the main objectives. Liverpool would nevertheless be asking 50 million euro° for the Argentinian while Barcelona wouldn't want to pay more than 30 million euro°.

Last month, Mascherano's agent Walter Tamer would have met in Barcelona with Begiristain in the same hotel where the player will stay tonight (read more here). The paper claims that Barcelona has already reached a principal agreement with Mascherano for a five-year contract worth 5 million euro a season.

It would be possible that Mascherano meets today or tomorrow with Barcelona representatives, although this option has become less likely because Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona director of football Raül Sanllehí have travelled with the Barcelona squad to the United States.

Read more:
Mascherano or Cesc
The report of Txiki: Mascherano priority
Mascherano wants to join Barcelona

38 comments:

pep said...

50 million euro =

70 million us dollar
42 million british pound


50 million euro =

42 million us dollar
25 million british pound

blaugrana1 said...

Pleeeaaasseee god let this happen..by doing this busquets will gain more experience from mash and toure can be moved more upfront

Anonymous said...

He is NOT worth 30 M Euros let alone 50ME . He is only going to be a bench or a rotating player after all !!

hawk_barca_4_life said...

ya for back up player for 30m not good choice!!!

rather go for di maria, edin hazard or JAN VERTONGHEN
all would be good and rather cheap 4 10m-15m

Barca>madrid said...

id rather have Fabregas hes younger and hes product of our youth system...he had an interview where he said he would leave arsenal unless he got a call from Pep...i think he is a loyal Barcelona player he just didn't see any playing time for him if he stayed

Unknown said...

This is crazy guys. We are talking 50 mil here. How much is iniesta worth if Masce is worth 50 mil. Just wait for a year and then get him for a decent price

M10 said...

i got a feeling that itll be easier to get fabregas than mascherano

hawk_barca_4_life said...

agreed even if we consider him as an important asset and addition to team getting him this summer for a reasonable fee is practicaly impossible !!!
so searching for other player shld be given priority if we really need one than wasting time on mash so that his price gets down!!!

El Fuego said...

50 million euro =

70 million us dollar
42 million british pound


50 million euro =

42 million us dollar
25 million british pound

??????????????????????

Anurag said...

ya pep, theres an error in the conversions.

50 million is ridiculous. its not even like we need him. oh yea, its not like we are paying that anyway, so it doesnt really matter...

Anonymous said...

Second should be 30...

Anonymous said...

this just pure speculation. sure, Mascherano is in town, but barca officials is not. I believe it if there is a picture w/ txixi or someone official fly his ass back to barcelona from the US just to talk w/ mascherano.

Anonymous said...

i don't know about this "signing a midfielder" thing i'd rather promote one or two youth players to back up the midfield and sign a LW someone like Arshavin he is REALLY good
i think Arshavin is even better than Ribery
did anyone watch the arsenal vs. at.madrid match?? that's why i think we should sign him

fcbee said...

We can't even afford 30. Where are they getting the money?


46 Zlatan + 14 Keirrison + 5 Maxwell is already 65. And we had first 30-35, than suddenly 60-80 to spend. Hope they don't do stupid things, financially speaking.

Unknown said...

please get him !!
he's desperate to play for us!
and we're desperate to a player like him please make my wish be true...!
mascherano at barca!

Unknown said...

if we can't get him we should go for hernanes great player...
if we are not going to sign center/defensive midfielder...then sign a winger hulk is my choise good player strong and very productive...

Humankind said...

I know 30 mil is a lot, but imagine if he came. I guarantee you that we would become the favorites for both La Liga and the Champions League. Who would be able to stop us?
Ibra and Mascherano are Pep's first choice and considering the caliber of a coach that Pep is, we'll be unstoppable next year and more lethal and versatile than ever before. Now that's a scary thought. I hope this deal goes through. It would be something special.

LeónDragón said...

you can bet, that if he would come, he surely wouldn't come as a backup, but more as the guy, who would make us nearly unbeatable.
he has the bite of a pitbull, a extreme working-rate and an enormous condition, technically strong and high defensive skills.
he would give the option to let toure play more offensive or could be used to back masches dm-position.
but as it seems, that this is another rumour, it doesn't matter to think about, as benitez knows very well about him and wouldn't let him go

LeónDragón said...

it's no secret, that he's the best dm-player worldwide, as toure has surely more skills, but compared to mascherano, only for this position, mascherano is the strongest.
know, what i'm talking about

LeónDragón said...

and some here know too

Humankind said...

I agree LeonDrago, he's the closest thing to Gattuso these days. However, he is here with the team. So this is just stupid, groundless speculation. I highly doubt we'll get him.

Unknown said...

from some israeli sport new`s i read we need to look about the financial thing here Livrpool is BAD they have get back somthing like 200m euro to some bank or more they need to sell MORE playr`s that can get them CASH and macherno for 30 million is a good option now if we do it fast Madrid will suck they big fingger on the foot becouse its mean they cant get alonso :) and its graet for us.
Bnitiz will give up form mascherno faster then alonso.

Instinct said...

Better to wait until next year and get him for a better price.Besides, we will allow our youth this year step up and show Pep their competitive nature/hunger/desire to fight for a first team spot. They deserve at least an opportunity among our current starters we have.

koko=barca said...

Masche maybe is a better player than Yaya, maybe. But Yaya is the BEST fit for this team. Let's say barca buys him. Do you really think Yaya should be on the bench??? I am really surprised from some of our fans. Bunch of mercenaries, that's what you are. You are praying for MAsch to come here, the same with the OVERRATED de rossi. If it was up to you, I am sure nobody would play for this team except Iniesta and Messi(not so sure about Messi)

Culer_Than_Thou said...

Please do not doubt the indispensability of Yaya for one fleeting second.
If at all Masche comes, what Pep has on his mind is a Masche-Xavi-Yaya midfield and Iniesta-Ibra-Messi trident up front.
So, they won't be competing for places or be rotating. They'll both play.

LeónDragón said...

koko=barca, come down, i advice you to read again.
no one doubts on toure and doubt anyone would like to see him on the bench, as said

"he would give the option to let toure play more offensive or could be used to back masches dm-position."

there are so, so many games and surely also not injury-free, so rotation is a key.
this transfer could give possibilities to put toure more forward, let iniesta switch to the left when needed, so please, don't turn the words said.
this whole thing is just speculation, so don't take it too serious by calling some mercenaries, although you surely not wrong at all.
love toure too, for sure, but we play for six cups and in three competitions, with also having players, going for their national teams, so it could be wisely to bring another midfielder. and mascherano is a good choice, no star-behaviour, precise working and skillful.
but as it seems, that it's only a rumour, not worth for hopes or praying

Marc4barca said...

koko just loves to blast fellow fans and argue doesn't he, anyways i agree with leon to some extent masch will enable yaya to play in more offensive roles if they start together and he is probably better defensively cause he is faster and has better tackling skills, this will allow a series of rotations that will only benefit the sqaud. the only thing i disagree with is that he is the best dm in the world as i think essien is better then de rossi simply because they have just as much defensive skills or more and a litttle more to offer going forward. yaya is the second best dm going forward but he isn't better than masch de rossi and essien in defending or breaking up counter attacks.

Ondra said...

No, its not about "transfer fever". I always considered Mascherano to be the best DM. He would solve our lack of variability in midfield and iniesta could play LW more often, while Yaya should play CM.
Just imagine another duel vs Chelski with Masche on the bright side:)
I think this would be even better buy than Ibra to strenghten the squad.
De rossi is even better in some aspects, would be also dream transfer, but I am afraid he is addicted to ASR. But De Rossi is the player i originally wanted before Yaya's arrival.
Fabregas would be good replacement for Xavi or iniesta, but he isn't world class at the moment and he wouldnt offer us that much variability. Still good option though.

Ondra said...

I want to add that I love Yaya. That's why I so desperately want to buy a world class DM like masche or De Rossi. Yaya would be a beast at CM and as I said, this is the best solution for the lack of replacement for X and I I've found so far.

Ondra said...

Marc: Yea, Essien is great, but I just didn't mention him because I think he is a little bit older than Masche or De Rossi, isn't he?

Anonymous said...

I really don't understand the intention of buying a defensive midfielder, so that Yaya Toure can move forward. If Xavi and Iniesta don't get injured, there WOn#T play ANYbody else then Xavi and Iniesta in attacking midfield because they are the best midfield duo in the world and which we may ever have seen.

Also i don't understand the left wing discussion. Henry last played a superb season and Inesta can also play there. The gap he is leaving besides Xavi can THEN fill in Yaya and Keita or Busquets or Marquez cann fill in the Position of DM. That's it. Why wasting money as we did for Caceres and Hleb?

Ondra said...

I think we definitely need either DM/CM or LW and I strongly prefer DM/CM.
CB isn't needed i think.

luimac said...

I think Fabregas is the better option. True that CDM position would be nice but I think that Yaya is just way to good in that position. Let Keita and Busquets sub or replace him for rotation, while Fabregas is more creative. He can rep Xavi or Iniesta in a rotation and Barca wouldnt lose the midfield creativity, or give Iniesta the chance to rep Henry as well. But thats just me. What you all think?

LeónDragón said...

think, that there's some truth in nearly all comments here.
believe, whatever happens, board will know what's best to do, especially now, as shown, that some horrible names handled like guiza, poulsen, negredo, llorente, etc were just fruitless rumours

Kman said...

This is crazy if we are prepared to pay 30 million for him. We are not Madrid for God's sake. Max what he is worth is 15-18 mills.A real Wastes of money when the world is in recession. Please don't do it Barca!!!

koko=barca said...

All I am saying is that we don't need another expensive player this year. Marc4barca I don't want to argue but these Masch articles really irritate me. There are a lot of guys who want to see Mach instead YAYA and IMO it is very very wrong. I will repeat, the BEST FIT for our team is Toure, the best buy in last 10 season after Ronnie

yuti said...

Essien and De Rossi wouldn't fit our 4-3-3, so no need to talk about then.

Mascherano would fit in, although I have doubts about moving Touré forward. Now he's good going forward because he has more space and he can choose his moments but if he plays higher, he'll have less space. And I think he doesn't have the explosivity needed to play as attacking midfielder. In our squad, only Iniesta has this. Which is a little worrying.

Marc4barca said...

if masch can fit in barca like you said yuti then i think essien and de rossi can. essien is a tireless monster with explosive pace and de rossi is much stronger than you think and he is italian and italians aren't known for bullshit defending and good heading ability both of them are all round DM. either way yaya plays well and i think we can even play 4-4-2 or 4-3-1-2 when or if iniesta and xavi get hurt instead of putting someone else their and have them attempt to play that same role.

valdes
alves-pique-puyol-abidal
xavi(messi/keita/busquets)-masch-yaya-iniesta(keita/gudi/busquets)
zlatan-henry

the rotation works without having someone to do the same as iniesta or xavi who is replaced, it keeps the team balanced and with zlatan who can create for himself at times is a bonus cause he also used to playing SS in a 4-4-2 so we won't have to worry about how limited messi may be moving him to midfield.

valdes
alves-pique-puyol-abidal
busquets-masch-yaya
messi
zlatan-henry

messi playing behind both strikers is when he is most dangerous to me but because we favor the 4-3-3 with messi's cut-ins from the right all other formations are irrelevant.but once again the formation makes up for iniesta's and xavi's absence with the 3 players behind messi. yaya can play killer passes and i'm sure every yaya fan will notice that that's what he did at monaco and does here in barca sometimes so he makes up for xavi better than anyone else, busquets can get forward and he draws alot of fouls, he isn't a iniesta but he close enough after all he was a striker.

alot of people fail in barca cause the 4-3-3 and the expectations are high and can be annoying but there are just some people who play better in different formations and i believe rotating players isn't enough but to also rotate formations so we can see the best of all our players. helb would of done well in the 4-4-2 formation i would bet on that. i hate chelsea but they have like 3 formations they use and manu has like 3 also. it's only a matter of time before the 4-3-3 becomes rather outdated and predictable. wouldn't it be better if walk in all games with the opponents clueless on what we will play and who will play and how we will play it??

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