LIVERPOOL have snubbed Barcelona’s opening bid for Javier Mascherano which is believed to be somewhere in the region of £18.8m with the Catalan club also willing to throw winger Alexander Hleb into the bargain (personally, £18.8 million without Hleb thrown in sounds like a fairly decent deal to me).
However, Liverpool are said to be holding out for a £24.5 million all-cash deal, as they are not prepared to accept a player-plus-cash bid for the 26-year-old Argentinian international.
Mascherano allegedly refused to turn out for Liverpool during their defeat at Manchester City last night, with manager Roy Hodgson admitting that the midfielder ‘was not in the right frame of mind’ to take to the field. Hodgson also added that Mascherano would find himself being ‘unhappy for a long time to come’ if the current situation isn’t resolved within the coming week.
Barca are now expected to return with an improved bid for Mascherano at some point within the next 48 hours and, as Liverpool fans will probably now testify, the sooner this one is over and done with the better.