Masherano loves it here

[Magic8Ball]

I?m loving Liverpool, declares midfielder

 

Apr 9 2007

 

by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

 

JAVIER MASCHERANO has hinted that he is hoping to convince Liverpool to make his move permanent.

 

The Argentinian, currently on an 18-month loan from West Ham, joined in January after a miserable first five months in English football at Upton Park.

 

But since Liverpool paid £1.5million to secure his services for the remainder of this season and next, the Argentine World Cup star has gradually regained his rhythm.

The 22-year-old was man of the match in Liverpool?s 2-1 win at Reading on Saturday, which was his fourth successive start and completed his role in Liverpool?s hat-trick of victories in a week, which has consolidated both their progress in the Champions League and quest to finish third in the Premiership.

 

And Mascherano acknowledged that his switch to Anfield has been central to him finally settling into English football.

 

?The truth is I am very happy with Liverpool,? said Mascherano. ?Everybody is treating me very well and I hope it continues like that.

 

?It is good to be in a dressing where there is a lot of Spanish spoken but at the same time we try to speak in English because we are in England and we have to respect that fact.

 

?But there is a great atmosphere in the dressing room and things are going very well. My team-mates, the technical staff and the fans have been really good to me and that is important.

 

?And (Reading) was my fourth consecutive game so I am very happy because I have been getting a good run in the side.

 

?I know what my job is out on the pitch and luckily, here at Liverpool there are some great players. When you are playing with such great players you really enjoy it.

 

?It is much easier to play alongside great players like the ones here at Liverpool.?

 

The price that Mascherano commands when his initial loan expires could be a potential sticking point for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez when he decides whether to keep the midfielder.

 

But the player who featured in every minute of Argentina?s World Cup

 

campaign in Germany last summer, is concentrating on ensuring Liverpool?s short-term targets rather than his personal long-teem goals.

 

?I am very happy here,? added Mascherano. ?But we will have to see what happens about the future. At the moment I am just concentrating on what needs to be done, making sure that we finish the season strongly.

 

?Hopefully we can achieve something very important by winning a European title. There is still a long way to go and hopefully we will put in a good performance on Wednesday to make sure we are in the semi-finals.

 

?Then next season we will see how things are going but I am relaxed and very happy here with Liverpool.?

 

Liverpool achieved victory at Reading thanks to Dirk Kuyt?s header four minutes from time, after Alvaro Arbeloa had earlier given them the lead by becoming their first ?number two? to score in the Premiership.

 

The victory grew in significance when Arsenal suffered their first defeat at the Emirates Stadium against West Ham, leaving them five points adrift of third-placed Liverpool.

 

?We knew that we needed the three points,? said Mascherano. ?It was important because

 

there are still some big league games to come

 

?We need to keep winning to make sure we are in the Champions League next season.?

 

Xabi Alonso missed Liverpool?s first ever trip to Reading with a minor groin injury but is expected to be back in contention for a place in Wednesday?s Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to PSV Eindhoven.

 

citation

 

what's not clear is, do we have a 10m option on him ? - I thought we did, but this article implies we may not

 

one question cleared up, another posed

[Falconhoof]

My guess is that the journalist doesn't have a clue. Nothings cleared up.

[Stevie H]

citation

 

what's not clear is, do we have a 10m option on him ? - I thought we did, but this article implies we may not

 

one question cleared up, another posed

from all the talk at the time, the 10m figure just seemed to be paper gossip. since his value could fluctuate either way over the 18 months it would be daft of the seller to put a price tag on him yet.

[Ste M]

Good point by Mr. H, but I'd be happy to pay out £10M+ for him, easily. He is a world class performer, and if we don't pay out for him then I'm absolutely certain another of the top clubs would.

[Magic8Ball]

from all the talk at the time, the 10m figure just seemed to be paper gossip. since his value could fluctuate either way over the 18 months it would be daft of the seller to put a price tag on him yet.

and daft for us not to agree a price when we have/had the upper hand

 

I thought it was 1.5m for the loan with a 10-11m option to buy.

In fact there was a story saying we HAD to buy him in order to get past the FA and we paid 10-11m

[Sion]

I doubt we'd not have a price agreed. He can come here, play brill for 18 months, and then mancs/chelsea snap him up after we took the risk with him? I know Parry's a bit behind the times sometimes but come on he can't be that stupid.

[RafaShanks]

I personally think a permanent deal will be sorted in the summer.

 

He loves it here and now we are minted, so I see no problems.

[Cobs]

i thought we'd already paid the £10 million

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

he's now played more mimutes for us than he did for West Ham

 

And Arbeola being our first #2 to score in the P/ship!

 

Who've they been? Rob Jones? Josemi?

 

 

Will - list of our P/ship #2's pls

[spencer]

If it had just been a loan deal, the Premiership would not have taken so long to approve the transfer.

[Benitez]

Daily Post / Echo have been the ones who said it was an 18 month loan deal and that we paid £1.5 m. That makes just as much sense as anything else I've read about this!

 

I REALLY doubt we've paid £10 mill for him already. Cos wasn't it the case that David Moores basically paid out of his own pocket for Kuyt cos the club didn't have enough money to get him? Therefore how on earth would they have afforded £10 mill for Mascher in January.

[Cobs]

he's now played more mimutes for us than he did for West Ham

 

And Arbeola being our first #2 to score in the P/ship!

 

Who've they been? Rob Jones? Josemi?

Will - list of our P/ship #2's pls

henchoz?

 

Daily Post / Echo have been the ones who said it was an 18 month loan deal and that we paid £1.5 m. That makes just as much sense as anything else I've read about this!

 

I REALLY doubt we've paid £10 mill for him already. Cos wasn't it the case that David Moores basically paid out of his own pocket for Kuyt cos the club didn't have enough money to get him? Therefore how on earth would they have afforded £10 mill for Mascher in January.

12 months @0% finance with a balloon payment at the end?

[kacangpool]

No big surprise that he'd like it here. About his transfer fee, I'm not as concerned as before now that Gilette and Hicks are on board, unless of course the amount is too ridiculous. Still with Mascher preferring us that'd prolly sway the decision.

Edited April 9, 2007 by kacangpool

[Tosh]

from Wiki...

 

"It is widely reported to be an 18 month permanent deal, though a fee and/or other arrangements are as yet unclear. The fee has been rumoured to be £1.5 million, but the Daily Mail have reported that Liverpool bought the player outright from MSI for £10 million"

 

matt lawton, 21st february, daily mail, £10m to buy him.

 

 

"Liverpool have completed the signing of Javier Mascherano after buying him out his contract with private businessman Kia Joorabchian.

 

But West Ham are still facing the threat of a points deduction for what was described on Tuesday night as the "outrageous behaviour" that led to the Argentina midfielder appearing for them earlier this season. "

[floyd]

Loaned him from a club, that didn't own him.

It has to be a permanent deal, can't see any other solution that suits us, West Ham, MSI and the Premeir League

Edited April 9, 2007 by floyd

[Gomez]

Loaned him from a club, that didn't own him.

It has to be a permanent deal, can't see any other solution that suits us, West Ham, MSI and the Premeir League

 

All parties made it pretty clear that it wasn't a loan deal at the time, that was what all the issues with the FA was about. We own him, but he's out of contract in 18 months and we have to pay £10m to keep him. It's not clear how that is structured, but I'm sure there are many ways of wording it. Maybe MSI have an clause to by him back at the end of his contract which we have the option to buy out for £10m.

 

Either way, we get a world class player for 18 months for £1.5m and we get the chance to 'try before we buy' before spending £10m on him. If we'd have done that with Diouf and Cisse, we'd have saved a fortune.

[Magic8Ball]

All parties made it pretty clear that it wasn't a loan deal at the time, that was what all the issues with the FA was about. We own him, but he's out of contract in 18 months and we have to pay £10m to keep him. It's not clear how that is structured, but I'm sure there are many ways of wording it. Maybe MSI have an clause to by him back at the end of his contract which we have the option to buy out for £10m.

 

Either way, we get a world class player for 18 months for £1.5m and we get the chance to 'try before we buy' before spending £10m on him. If we'd have done that with Diouf and Cisse, we'd have saved a fortune.

agree 100% with that - both on the Masher financing and the Diouf, Cisse Debacles

[Falconhoof]

We own him, but he's out of contract in 18 months and we have to pay £10m to keep him. It's not clear how that is structured, but I'm sure there are many ways of wording it. Maybe MSI have an clause to by him back at the end of his contract which we have the option to buy out for £10m.

 

It all sounds a bit like slavery (should we apologise to him ?)

Wouldn't the player have some say in who he's bought by ? He's happier here than he'd be if he was back being touted around by Joorabchian.

Can't he, in theory, just tell MSI where to go in 18 months and sign for whoever he wants ?

[Kite]

Daily Post / Echo have been the ones who said it was an 18 month loan deal and that we paid £1.5 m. That makes just as much sense as anything else I've read about this!

 

I REALLY doubt we've paid £10 mill for him already. Cos wasn't it the case that David Moores basically paid out of his own pocket for Kuyt cos the club didn't have enough money to get him? Therefore how on earth would they have afforded £10 mill for Mascher in January.

Some of the articles said we loaned the money from Hicks/Gillet ... think we'd accepted their offer for definite at the time. It sure is confusing. Given his recent performances I can only hope we either have bought him outright or we have a concrete deal to get him at a set price at the end of the loan ...

[Gomez]

It all sounds a bit like slavery (should we apologise to him ?)

Wouldn't the player have some say in who he's bought by ? He's happier here than he'd be if he was back being touted around by Joorabchian.

Can't he, in theory, just tell MSI where to go in 18 months and sign for whoever he wants ?

 

I presume he was involved in the decision and is signed up to the deal, therefore he can no more walk away than any other footballer who's signed a long contract. I'm sure if it went to court there'd be issues about restriction of trade etc, but the whole of football seems to work on the unspoken agreement that no-one makes that legal challenge.

[Ginu]

from Wiki...

 

"It is widely reported to be an 18 month permanent deal, though a fee and/or other arrangements are as yet unclear. The fee has been rumoured to be £1.5 million, but the Daily Mail have reported that Liverpool bought the player outright from MSI for £10 million"

 

matt lawton, 21st february, daily mail, £10m to buy him.

"Liverpool have completed the signing of Javier Mascherano after buying him out his contract with private businessman Kia Joorabchian.

 

But West Ham are still facing the threat of a points deduction for what was described on Tuesday night as the "outrageous behaviour" that led to the Argentina midfielder appearing for them earlier this season. "

 

that is what I remember... the FA praising us for doing what was necessary to end this mess with West Ham and Kia Joorabchian. If it was just a loan deal, he'd still be owned by that third party. Paying 1.5m for a loan to get him here for 18 months wouldn't have solved that problem. Either we have to own him (in which case it isn't a loan deal) or West Ham still does (in which case it is a loan deal), the latter of which would mean Joorabchian was still in the picture. The FA would not have allowed the move to go through if he was indeed owned by a third party. So I think the article in the first post is inaccurate - IMO we have him permanently on an 18-month contract. We were talking at the time that we'd have to sign him quickly because his contract was so short.

Edited April 9, 2007 by Ginu

[Guest spk]

one of the guys connected to the club must have some idea. it's clear the press nor the offal ever clarified this

Edited April 9, 2007 by spk

[Benitez]

one of the guys connected to the club must have some idea. it's clear the press nor the offal ever clarified this

 

I'm sure people connected to the club do have an idea. But as no one here is connected to the club, we'll be waiting a long time to find out!

[beejay]

he's now played more mimutes for us than he did for West Ham

 

And Arbeola being our first #2 to score in the P/ship!

 

Who've they been? Rob Jones? Josemi?

Will - list of our P/ship #2's pls

 

Babbel scored several goals from right back - including one at Everton I remember

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

Babbel scored several goals from right back - including one at Everton I remember

 

but he wore number 6

 

And Arbeola being our first #2 to score in the P/ship!

 

Who've they been? Rob Jones? Josemi?

 

Jones, Henchoz, Kronkamp