Part4: English Premier League: Players that need to be sold by their clubs
The Summer transfer window has been open for what seems like forever now. Most teams have had players coming in for almost every possible position that anyone can think of. Almost all of the time everyone has talked about the players that need to be brought into the team to make an impact on the side or what player could fill the missing void to help steer the team to success.
While the addition of some players would make a significant change to the side, the exclusion of some players could prove to have almost the same impact on the side. Here is a look at players that teams could do without and would most probably even perform better without.
Javier Mascherano
Mascherano is quite easily one of the best defensive midfielders in the world at the moment. He is also the current captain of the Argentinean. His presence is so great that the former manager of Argentina, Diego Maradonna said that his team consisted of Mascherano and then ten men to play along with him. This was despite the fact that players like, Kun Aguerro and Lionel Messi were a part of his Argentinean team. That in itself tells us as to just how much potential the player possesses.
Mascherano made his debut in the Premier League with West Ham United and was a presence felt by all the other teams from the first day that he stepped foot into English football. Mascherano helped West Ham win their battle with relegation and helped keep the team afloat for the coming season in the Premiership.
It was his terrific performances that saw him earn a move to Liverpool. Most people felt that this would have been one of the biggest mistakes that the player made, considering Xabi Alonso played for Liverpool. However upon his arrival Mascherano silenced all his critics and doubters. He managed to earn himself a starting spot in the Liverpool line up and they even designated a position on the squad known as the Mascherano. He played as a link between the defence and the midfield while breaking up countless attacks from the opposition and helping launch some attacks for the team itself.
Last season however, Mascherano didn’t seem to be the same player that he had been for the previous seasons. However it wasn’t just the Argentinean work horse who seemed to be half the player that he was, but in fact almost the entire Liverpool squad seemed to have been playing at an all time low, in what was arguably the worst season in Liverpool’s recent history. Liverpool barely managed a seventh place finish and were outside a Champions League spot after ages.
This failure started to take its toll on the team and their manager, Rafa Benitez was sacked as manager. This seemed to have ticked of Mascherano in the wrong way. Since soon after he started to express that his desire to continue playing for Liverpool had died and that he would much rather opt to move to Inter Milan, where Benitez was now in charge. The other option that the player has is to move to Barcelona. The Spanish club have been long term admirers of the player and are willing to bring the player to the Camp Nou.
The move might seem absurd at first but, it is quite possibly the best option that Liverpool have in front of them. They currently have squad that has no depth to it and if a player gets injured there is no cover for that player.
With the sales of Mascherano the team could incur a good sum of money. That money could be spent on strengthening the attack of the team. Which is quite possibly the weakest part of the team, they only have two strikers in their line up, those strikers being Fernando Torres and David N’Gog. They already have defensive cover for the role of the defensive midfielder in the form of Lucas and Poulsen. This is why they should quite possibly consider letting Mascherano leave. This is because he won’t be playing with all his heart and won’t be as effective as he has been in the past, this coming season and the money that the team would receive for the players transfer could prove to be highly beneficial to the squad.
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