Should Liverpool Buy Mascherano Now or Wait Till Summer?
One of the root causes of the minor rift / disagreement between Rafa Benitez and the Liverpool owners was the status of Javier Mascherano.
To make a long story short, Rafa thinks that Liverpool need to pin down their star players as quickly as possible because over the past three years they have lost several prospects to their more illustrious rivals. The owners think it’s OK to wait another 5-6 months and then do the deal and are confident that Mascherano will want to stay.
Personally, I think Rafa is right in the sense that Liverpool need to act faster in securing talent that’s already on-board, but on the other hand there is no rush, it’s understood that Mascherano is now a Liverpool player and that there’s only a matter of time until Liverpool make him a permanent signing. In fact, if you consider the money that will go into signing Mascherano (17m), it’s a heavy price to pay in January when Liverpool’s priority is to bring in a central defender.
Surely it’s more important to spend money on a defender now instead of making a show of signing a player that’s already yours? Rafa should get the funds to bring in a new defender plus he will also find this a good time to offload a couple of non-performing players.
Liverpool may have new owners, but that doesn’t mean unlimited finances for Rafa to play fantasy football with, does it?
So, should Liverpool buy Mascherano now or wait till the summer?
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Discussion - 11 Responses
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dumb question. we need masch. buy now. better safe then sorry.
Real stupid question. He should be signed now. There ae other teams also interested in him AND, should United manage to sell Carrick back to Spurs, they will definitely poach Mascherano from under their noses.
No, It’s not a stupid question. As he said, we could use the funds to buy a central defender and tie down Mascherano later. He already said that he won’t join any other English club and that he likes Liverpool, that he wants to stay. Why not reassure him about his future and buy him in the summer?
It is my understanding that Liverpool have a the right of first refusal at a set price of 17 Million (don’t remember if it ’s pounds or dollars). If that is the case it doesn’t matter when they sign him their price is set.
The real issue then is how best to spend money. January is a bad time to buy quality players plus many that are on the move may be doing so because they are out of form or cup tied. It may be better to bargain hunt only now and make any big buys when you get better deals as contracts end at the end of the year.
Also there is the very practical matter that Liverpool would be spending 17 Million on a guy who may spend a substantial amount of time as a backup to Xabi Alonso. Also Liverpool is deep at defensive mid with Sissoko, and Leiva can play there. So they’d be spending a lot of money on a spot they don’t really need a ton of help at. And if you’re gonna spend 17million on that then Liverpool can’t expect to just have 75 mill laying around in the summer. They really need to get that stadium underway. Because that club doesn’t generate revenue like United, Arsenal, or Madrid but sure wants to spend like it.
Now personally I’d sell Sissoko to Juve and buy Mascherano and be done with it at the end of the season. Take the money now and go after a decent striker. I know people point to the lack of depth in the back. Very true but Liverpool struggles to finish it’s opportunities and they’ve lost more games and draws to lackluster attack, lack of chances, or just plain mediocre finishing then to poor defending.
What I’d like to see is Babel given a chance at striker. So theirs you’re real help at striker. Sell Kuyt and or Voronin. Swoop for Berbatov. Keep Crouch if possible. Sell Sissoko (largely to fund the Mascherano deal). And if there is a good deal to be made for a central defender go get him.
Others i think they should be willing to sell are Risse, Auriellia, Kewell.
Well it dont really matter,especially if liverpool drop points to wigan.AT ANFIELD!ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
I’m not a ‘Pool fan my opinion is:
- sell Crouch
- Keep Alonso and Mascerano, sell Sissoko
- get a good defender in any position, no one really looks that formidable right now, except for Agger who’s injured.
Yep, there it is…Rafa’s transfer policy in action:
“Buy 5 this season, sell 4 of them next season”
Of the top four PL rivals, United are the only team who were genuinely interested in Mascherano but they have Hargo and then Carrick as backup so they’re good. Arsenal have Denilson coming through, Chelsea have a boatload of players in that position as well.
Outside England? Only if Liverpool don’t qualify for the Champions League, because if Mascherano wants to win domestic titles he can be convinced by Rafa to stay on a couple of years and he will be further convinced by Rafa’s summer buys in 2008.
So in short - there’s no real danger of Mascherano leaving unless:
a) he’s talked about wanting to play for Real Madrid / Milan / Inter / Barcelona / Juventus.
b) Liverpool don’t qualify for next year’s Champions League.
The first is unlikely, as he’s settled and isn’t the type to hop around from club to club (AND in any case Alonso is more likely to have reasons to leave Pool than Mascherano).
That leaves us with b).
Ahmed, there is also a c)
c) His agent Kia
Kia is not really his agent, but more his owner. His main aim is to make as much money asap. If another club (like Juve) comes in with a good offer, Kia might well be able to convince Masch to leave.
I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE HIM ON LOAN UNTILL THE SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW AND THEN SIGN HIM BECAUSE HE SAID HE WANTS TO STAY AND WE CAN’T REALLY AFFORED HIM AT THE MOMENT DU TO THE OWNERS AND NOT GIVING US THE FUNDS