West Ham’s want-away Argentinian world cup star Javier Mascherano has undertaken and passed his medical with Liverpool Football Club.
The player underwent his medical on Friday morning.
We also understand personal terms have been agreed and the transfer to Liverpool now rests on the relatively complicated international football rules preventing players playing for more than 2 clubs in a season.
Juventus pulled out of the race for the player earlier citing this as the reason ‘It won’t be possible for us to sign him. We have had to end our interest in him due to his complicated contractual situation,” said Juve sporting director Alessio Secco.
Javier Mascherano has fallen out of favour at Premiership strugglers West Ham. His primary role is as a defensive central midfielder.
The guy is class. He is a central defensive midfielder who has a good first touch and great distribution.
How he does not get into our (West Ham’s)first 11, and has not even been on the bench for weeks, defeats me.
His performances, when picked to start (which have been rare),have been good.
If he signs for Liverpool I wish him well.
From a West Ham season ticket holder
Mascherano’s indeed a good holdin player. Only God knows what went wrong at West Ham. He’s indeed a good buy! Imagine him breakin up opposition’s play and feeding Stevie every time..!! He’ll make a good signing!
You can have that under-acheving argi, he has a bad attitude every game when he knows he isn’t in the sqaud he leaves the game…Hope he gives you more respect !! CHERRROOOOO!
Philo, Sorry mate there is no way you can leave Finnan out of the team. One of the best right backs in the pemiership.
First of all hi everybody! My name is Sergio and im from Argentina, LFC fan since i was a child, i never posted anything here but i feel this is the right time to do it…so. My other footy team is River Plate, the club where Masche growth as a player, i have seen this guy playing for us since he was 17 when he was on the reserves…and let me tell to all of you that this is a great tranfer. The mean reason (from my point of view) is that this is a player with the quality, the passion and the balls to play in a club like Liverpool, and we are talking about a very young lad, if he understand what LFC is, what the KOP means and if he have a real chance for showing what he can do, be sure that Javi is gonna be one of the greates players of the Premiership. And just one more thing, this lad had played on the national first team when he was on the reserves, before he made his debut on the first River Plate team, well good luck Masche!!!
And Rafa.. play ROBBIE please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
great signing it will be for us and will be a great success for him and the club. Once he is through the door i will like to see atleast 5 more world class players at anfield next season. Hopefully one of them is David Villa
Guys.. With all the questionable decision making recently i make no apologies that im now starting to lose faith in Rafa..!! And because of this i am starting to question all the players he is showing interest in.For example, the young lad in Scotland and Mascherano ect..these dont fill me with any confidence.I want to hear the names like Barton, Bent, Nolan,Defoe ect..These are players that can make a difference and no doubt would come to Anfield if interest was shown.Worries me that Liverpool are again attempting another cheap rebuild.
Mascherano would be great to our midfield as he can play in the defensive midfield role and give more options to the wingers and shield the defensive players. I’d like to see Aurelio in left back as he is an excellent crosser and a much better full back than Riise. What do you expect from Riise?? He is a left MIDFIELD not left back. Its to easy to go past him why even Rommedahl did in the away game at the Valley. I would play this: 4-1-4-1. Neill right back,carra and agger in central defence,Aurelio left back, Mascherano defensive midfield, Riise left wing, Gerrard and Xabi Alonso in central midfield, Pennant or Ashley Young down the right wing, and Kuyt as the lone striker. Bench: Dudek,Hypia,Luis Garcia,Mark Gonzalez,Bellamy
One problem with Bellamy in right midfield. Bellamy likes these little runs from inside the box even though he is good at crossing. He has scored some goals in the past few weeks. Someone has to provide crosses and give through balls to Bellamy so that he can be dangerous. Only peson i can think of young watford winger Ashley Young. Mascha will be a great addition. Give away Zenden, he’s not an anchorman and plus to slow. Sell Zenden.
I think he is a brill player. he is the best young midfield player in the world!!!! Buy him!!!plz
i’dd like to see Ashley young in our team. he has pace and he can link up well with Bellamy down the right side. Mascherano is a great player and he can play defensive midfield to let Liverpool play a 4-1-2-1-2. the only problem is where will Xabi Alonso play and what will happen to Zenden and Sissoko after he comes back from injury? 5 central midfielders does make a problem as 2 or maybe even 3 will be left out. To make it even worse all of them are great versatile midfielders who can play in very complicated areas in midfield. I suggest to Rafa that put Zenden on a loan spell to a team which needs a central midfielder. that will give Zenden matches and after his loan spell is finished we can bring him back and give him a few games. And if by that time someone is not doing well then we can put that midfielder on a loan spell. Another question is why is fowler not playing?????
“Stevo” is definetly right. Agger has proved he can cope in the first team and is giving sami a run for his money. You can’t judge Javier at a club like West Ham were he hasn’t had adequate team to prove himself. For Argentina he was one of the better players. “topredman” i think there has been a lot of success wit signings, better than houiller anyway. Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko, Daniel Agger, Luis Garcia, Pepe Reina etc have shown us how good they can be momo is the best young midfielder in england his workrate is second to none and sure luis can be dodgy but you can’t agrue with important goals he always pulls up with. I thinnk Jermaine will come good and Fabio Aurielo eeerrmmm i duno hes not bad.
West Ham fan here. Not sure if this deal will actually go through seeing Curbs and Egg came out to say both argies are staying untill summer. Anyway, everyone at WHU knows Masch is the best player we have except for Tevez, Ashton, but he is not being sidelined due to his ability, its something within the dodgy deal. Two decent managers dont leave a world class player out in the middle of a relegaton battle for fun, there is something very wrong going on and its upsetting most hammers fans, we are all dying to see him in the team. Well i feel sorry for him, if he cant get in the side here due to silly contract problems them he deserves to be playing week in week out with Liverpool or Juve.
im a man utd fan so im glad liverpool are buying him not because he is a bad player its because rafa will end up playing gerrard on the right if he comes.liverpool have great variety up front and if gerrard and alonso are in centre mid they will defend as much as u want them to and liverpool will play better. liverpool are strong throught but they do need a centre back (that patrick lad is an idiot) and if they got villa it would make there strike force even stronger.
Lets get this straight, we need four top quality central midfield players, and we have three. Xabi, Stevie and Momo are top class, Zenden is not. I’d go as far to say that if he wants to play CM, and do well there, he should drop down a division. He’s too slow, a poor tackler, cant head the ball and frequently loses posession by virtue of a poor selection of pass.
Mascherano is young, hungry and gifted. He might not play too much, but I’d be a lot happier with him as an option rather than Bolo.
When you factor in the unusual injuries Momo seems to be prone to, this is a good bit of business by Rafa.
I think he could develope into a great player for us, strong in the tackle but with more quality on the ball than Momo (who is improving). An excellent addition to the team for the future and quality in depth.
On a slightly different note, what do you think of playing Bellamy on the right, instead of Pennant. He is quicker, has more ball control and I believe more attacking potential there, it would also allow Kuyt and Crouch/Robbie to play. I for one can’t understand why its not been tried, especially at home and it allows Stevie to stay where he’s needed, in the middle. Thoughts
DH
dont see him as a bad signing but it all depence how much were gona pay for an argie who hasnt had the chance to show what hes all about . we certenly need someone 2 help stevie g in his attacking roles , who else do we have that we can put in as attacking mid when he gets injured
Has anyone seen this man play? Does anyone know anything about him? We need players that strike fear into the opposition. At the moment, Stevie and Carra are about the only players doing that. Kuyt,Crouch,Bellamy and Robbie aren’t doing the business up front. Pennant looks weak, the defence is shakey and we are about to buy another holding midfield player? Our success with signings isn’t great and we have a sqaud littered with average players that aren’t delivering. I fear this might be another.
Listen guys..i’ve read all the comments and come in at this late stage…mascherano plays holding midfielder for argentina…the team tipped to win the world cup after some sublime displays…if you study the matches you’ll find that he broke up play 9 times out of ten in every game…and gave the ball to riquelme….imagine this guy breaking up attacks from oppositon and feeding stevie g at anfield and beyond?he’s quality and we need him..cos we can get him…and he’ll make us stronger…welcome welcome welcome javier….
Mascherano was a class act during the world cup for Argentina. I think he could be a very good buy, and I do believe a bit of patience is needed to see how he pans out.
An excellent addition, once he has acclimatised he will prove that he was well worth the wait.
He is strong in the tackle and a good passer of the football, who will shield the back four and while providing options for the more attacking midfielders: 4-1-3-1-1.
If this is true,then you’ve got a good player.For some unknown reason he wasn’t used enough at West Ham,but i hope you get the clearance you need to play him.Good luck Mascher,i wish we had seen more of you.From Ray the ‘Ammer.
I totally agree with clarky. I don’t think mascherano has enough quality to play in a team like Liverpool. If he didn’t fit in when playing for West Ham, it would be even harder for him to fit in Liverpool. I seriously hope he doesnt join Liverpool FC. ever.
Haha! There are some idiots out there arent there! I suggest you lot get a bit of knowledge about football before you say anything. For a start Mascherano plays in defensive midfield and so learning off Sami Hyypia wouldnt be a good idea. We already have Agger who is looking liek a quality player. Secondly Mascherano is a quality player. He has proved it at his old club and wouldnt be a starter for Argentina if he wasnt any good. Something wasnt right at West Ham as Tevez also has failed to impress. This signing should just be on loan anyway to see how he copes with the pressure of playing for Liverpool FC!
>> ssenyondo patrick
Javier isn’t defender but central defensive midfielder!
I 100% agree with clarky, a very quick central defender and 2 very quick and classy full backs are needed with a very quick and top goal scorer.
Patrick, Maschereno is a midfielder, and he is young not mature.
since when is Mascherano a center back?
Clarky sissoko is improving on his passing all the time and id put money that 95% of liverpool fans want him to stay.
Agger has pace and is good in the air
they are two young players who are only gona get better.
Sissoko is there to break up moves not to send 40 yard passes around the pitch like alonso/gerrard
i trust rafa again on this signing
We’ve needed a replacement for Hamann all season, Momo is fantastic but far from the finished article as a defensive midfielder.
With the way Rafa has played Gerrard wide and Sissoko and Alonso through the centre we’ve found Sissoko in too many advanced positions for someone who cannot strike a ball.
Mascherano would be a great signing for this club, there were plenty of people moaning that West Ham and not us had been able to sign them in the first place. Mascherano has had little time to play at West Ham so to say he’s not good enough for them is a knee-jerk reaction. If that was the case would we have signed Reina and Garcia? two players who got little playing time at their previous clubs?
Strength in depth is always a good thing, as is his desire to come to us, the guy is quality, maybe we wont see it this season but he’s ability and the fact he was coverted throughout Europe speaks volumes for him.
Though we don’t know the fee yet it’s thought to be around the 5 million mark, which isn’t alot and wouldn’t buy a left back of the quality needed.
mascherano is quality but is obviosly not feeling well in england. he is a defensive midfielder, we have alonso (similar type), sissoco and cover in bolo zenden. rafa should go for david villa upfront and lucas neil at the back. and we still need quality at right wing. not convinced about pennant
Didn’t have time to show his ability at West Ham,so I hope he can do it at Liverpool .Good buy!!!
The signing of Mascherano is indeed a good move. As a Liverpool fun, I have always wanted the club to have a mature substitute for S.Hypia. He has come in the right time. Hypia can take the club through the 06/07 calender and Mascherano is going to have time to study the situation, find ways of cementing Liverpool’s defence beyond its current status.
i think its a good transfer , until momo sissoko comes back from injury
NICE NICE 😀
What is the point, waste of money, useless at West Ham, complicated and time consuming to sign when efforts should be being made to sign a quality centre back that has pace and good in the air. Also needed are two quality attacking fullbacks which would also allow Riise to play left side midfield as that is his best position. Bent in Bellamy out is mooted and he would be a good addition. Would still like to see Barton arrive as Sissoko cannot pass.