Mascherano

[sonsofthedesert]

Manchester City have held talks with the advisors of Javier Mascherano over a £17m move from Liverpool.

City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has targeted the Argentine ace after learning his future at Anfield is uncertain because the club are stalling over making his deal at the club a permanent one.

Liverpool chief Rafa Benitez has been desperate to convince American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to stump up the cash for Mascherano.

But he faces losing one of his most prized assets because no deal has been offered – and now Mascherano’s men are exploring other options.

A meeting took place in a London hotel last week between one of the midfielder’s advisors and a close associate of City owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mascherano is owned by a consortium headed by Kia Joorabchian, the same group who look after Manchester United star Carlos Tevez.

The deal that took the midfielder to Anfield from West Ham was basically a loan agreement which is due to run out at the end of this season – at which point Liverpool would have to cough up £17m to keep him at the club.

City have been quick to make their interest known – and could even attempt to conclude a deal which would see him move to Eastlands in January.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/...m-Masch-swoop/

and that simple bit in bold prooves it is garbage. We have him till the summer unless we want to get rid of him. Under PL rules he has to be signed (loaned) to us for a specific time and we have to give permission for him to leave. Lazy work by the Jurno, also Mascher has said he wont play for another english team.

[MascheredUp]

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/...m-Masch-swoop/

[kurtangle01]

Manchester City have held talks with the advisors of Javier Mascherano over a £17m move from Liverpool.

City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has targeted the Argentine ace after learning his future at Anfield is uncertain because the club are stalling over making his deal at the club a permanent one.

Liverpool chief Rafa Benitez has been desperate to convince American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to stump up the cash for Mascherano.

But he faces losing one of his most prized assets because no deal has been offered – and now Mascherano’s men are exploring other options.

A meeting took place in a London hotel last week between one of the midfielder’s advisors and a close associate of City owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mascherano is owned by a consortium headed by Kia Joorabchian, the same group who look after Manchester United star Carlos Tevez.

The deal that took the midfielder to Anfield from West Ham was basically a loan agreement which is due to run out at the end of this season – at which point Liverpool would have to cough up £17m to keep him at the club.

City have been quick to make their interest known – and could even attempt to conclude a deal which would see him move to Eastlands in January.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/...m-Masch-swoop/

You've outdone yourself. That's a worse sourse than tribull.

[dww]

You've outdone yourself. That's a worse sourse than tribull.

I can't believe anyone is doubting AFII's

[AFII]

City preparing £17m move for Mascherano as Liverpool stall
By Jason Burt
Published: 05 December 2007

Manchester City are attempting to take advantage of the continuing uncertainty at Liverpool by lining up a surprise £17m bid for Javier Mascherano. City are expected to be the Premier League's big spenders in what could be an otherwise quiet January with owner Thaksin Shinawatra having already pledging substantial funds as the club pushes for European football. They want to recruit one leading striker, and possibly two, as well as a holding midfielder while discussions have been held about a new goalkeeper.

The favourite for the striking role remains Afonso Alves, the free-scoring Brazilian who plays for the Dutch club Heerenveen, with Peter Crouch and Nicolas Anelka having also been discussed by Shinawatra, his advisers and manager Sven Goran Eriksson. Much of City's transfer strategy is being led by the agent Pini Zahavi and he is believed to be keen to push through a deal involving Mascherano. It is thought that a meeting with City may have already taken place.

A new name on City's list is the Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins who is understood to be unhappy at St James' Park and has a £13m release clause, although negotiations have taken place to remove that from his contract.

The future of Mascherano has been one of the points of conflict between Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and the club's owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Benitez has urged the Americans to quickly provide the funds to sign the 23-year-old Argentine, who is only effectively on an 18-month loan, on a permanent transfer.

Mascherano, whose personal terms do not provide a stumbling block, and his advisers want to tie up a deal as quickly as possible with Liverpool also risking the midfielder signing a pre-contract agreement elsewhere if they do not offer him permanent terms by next month. It's thought that he would prefer to stay at Liverpool.

Mascherano is already one of the players at Anfield most valued by Benitez, and has a clause in his contract setting a fee of £17m if he leaves the club – which would cause further strain with the owners. Benitez is believed to have already made clear he would rather sell John Arne Riise, who has only 18 months left on his contract, or Momo Sissoko who attracted interest from Italy last summer.

Mascherano is also believed to be wanted in Italy although he is thought to be more likely to move to Spain, and Barcelona, should he leave this country. Liverpool would not receive a fee for Mascherano who is, it is believed, still effectively owned by the sports media company MSI.

If City fail in a bid for Mascherano they are likely to turn their attention to Marcelo Mattos who, at around £3m, would provide a cut-price alternative. The 23-year-old Brazilian is also a holding midfielder and only joined the Greek club Panathinaikos earlier this year, from Corinthians. Mattos has been in impressive form and Portsmouth are also believed to be interested. Although not an international Mattos would be able to move to England because he has an Italian passport. Despite the impressive form of Dietmar Hamann, he is 34 and City have identified a new holding midfielder as a priority.

City spent heavily last summer, with almost £40m worth of players arriving in a whirlwind spree following Shinawatra's takeover and the appointment of Eriksson. The Swede is believed to have petitioned the owner last month urging him to spend more cash and claiming that beyond his first XI he lacks the strength and depth to sustain a challenge this campaign.

City's impressive performances have helped his cause – as have the resounding success of a number of his signings, particularly Elano and Martin Petrov.

City are also expected to receive further good news soon with the likelihood that Micah Richards will finally sign a new contract before the end of this month. The 19-year-old has stalled partly because he is in the process of changing his advisers but has assured City that he has no intention of not signing. A host of leading clubs are monitoring the situation and it is likely that, despite the new contract, City will face a battle to hold on to him next summer.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/footb...cle3223641.ece

[dww]

The thing is of course any team with money is looking at the idea of buying Mascher he is a big name, good, young player. However the decision will still be ours on the 16th when the owners and Rafa meet so until at least January we are very much in the box seat. However suggesting otherwise makes good print for story hungry journos.

[Kudos to AFII for knowing which papers rank as decent sources in the UK though ]

[carrsim]

many clubs will want him

we signed him on loan from MIS for 18 months and took control of his player registration/ownership at that time.

we have until the end of the 18 month period- and then importantly 1st refusal on the 17m permanent deal.

anything else that is reported is simply filler on a quiet news day

[Maestro]

I'd be very surprised if he was playing for any other club next season. Man City certainly haven't a snowball's chance in hell of signing him.
We shouldn't forget however that any transfer fee for Mascherano will be coming out of next summer's transfer kitty.

[tomasjj]

I'd be very surprised if he was playing for any other club next season. Man City certainly haven't a snowball's chance in hell of signing him.
We shouldn't forget however that any transfer fee for Mascherano will be coming out of next summer's transfer kitty.

Not a concern for me.
Masch is a must.

[Dhav]

I'd be very surprised if he was playing for any other club next season. Man City certainly haven't a snowball's chance in hell of signing him.
We shouldn't forget however that any transfer fee for Mascherano will be coming out of next summer's transfer kitty.

Not a concern for me.
Masch is a must.

Agree with tomasjj, not a concern where the money comes from. Mascher is a world class player and needs to be tied down to us as soon as poss and irrespective of the cost.

Besides, we surely have players on their way out on which we should recoup more than enough money to allow Rafa to go out and make further purchasers in Jan or in the summer irrespective of what it will cost to make Masscher permanent.

[AFII]

Not that I think we will do this but could we sell off the remaining months of his loan if Rafa isn't allowed to sign him on a permanent deal?

[Maestro]

Not a concern for me.
Masch is a must.

Agree with tomasjj, not a concern where the money comes from. Mascher is a world class player and needs to be tied down to us as soon as poss and irrespective of the cost.

Besides, we surely have players on their way out on which we should recoup more than enough money to allow Rafa to go out and make further purchasers in Jan or in the summer irrespective of what it will cost to make Masscher permanent.

Sorry, maybe I phrased that poorly. Not necessarily a concern, but just a fact worth remembering for the next time summer transfer budgets are discussed.

[Dhav]

Sorry, maybe I phrased that poorly. Not necessarily a concern, but just a fact worth remembering for the next time summer transfer budgets are discussed.

Absolutely. I think we do need to bear in mind that permanently signing Mascher will eat into our summer transfer kitty and mean we may have to sacrifice other targets. Basically our summer transfer fund is already down by £17m and that's before we've brought anyone new into the club. That would otherwise cause me concern to be honest, because as great as Mascher is (and he is great and I think we'd be mad not to make the transfer permanent irrespective of the cost) there are key areas in our team/squad where we need to strengthen. But as I mentioned earlier, the departure of the likes of Carson and Sissoko should swell the coffers sufficiently to allow us to go out and buy another couple of players in Jan or the summer, irrespective of the big outlay we'll hopefully be making imminently on Mascher.

[Rich]

Hopefully Carson + Sissoko = Mascherano or there abouts, so it *shouldn't* effect the summer budget.

[DaveC]

He's not a necessary purchase and I can fully understand why the club have baulked at that price.