Roy Hodgson states Javier Mascherano’s leave will be a loss for Liverpool
The new Liverpool manager, Englishman Roy Hodgson is not an optimist but a realist. Though his currently unpredictable club, Liverpool, has led him to make statements all over the place, he essentially has had in mind what he has to do and therefore is the ultimate pragmatist in planning his moves.
For instance the coup he cooked up with his captain and vice captain Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher respectively has landed the manager with Chelsea’s forward Joe Cole all for free. The English striker will be a priceless asset in Liverpool’s campaign next season by providing the x-factor in the squad that will help lift and redeem the team’s pride.
The Reds manager is holding up pretty well against the departure of Argentina’s star captain and midfielder Javier Mashcherano. Mascherano has time and again asked that he be transferred to Inter Milan. The 26 year old midfielder has stated that he wants to return to his former boss Rafael Benitez who was sacked from Liverpool. It is being reckoned that the deal will strike around 25 million pounds between the clubs. Hodgson has clearly commented that he will not hide that this is not a loss for the club but he is looking forward to the future and will find a way to replace the star.
There have been many speculations on Fernando Torres’ departure from Anfield. Earlier Hodgson has been all around the place for him even chasing the Spanish star to Spain to try and get a final answer out of him but the coveted striker has been as eluding as ever. Still at last his efforts seemed to have paid off and he has told that he is happy with result. He told that this has come as good news after the bad when Mascherano asked for the final agreement of his deal.
Hodgson earlier stated that the Liverpool star is not happy with incidents from the past relating to him and the club which certainly bring the era of Rafael Benitez under scrutiny. Hodgson has stated that it is not him the striker has issues against but in fact he approves of the way Hodgson is running matters at Liverpool. Liverpool gave a deadline to Torres to come out with his final decision, if the star wants to stay and after much run about Hodgson concluded the same again at that time saying that the “beef” Torres has with the club remains.
However a surprise statement just a few days later made by Hodgson changed the whole scenario. He related that Torres will be stay with Liverpool after all. Hodgson considers that it might actually be in benefit for Torres to stay at Liverpool as after his dismissive performance at the World Cup where he got demoted from the starting line up to play as a last minute substitute and eventually found himself injured in the last moments of the final in the World Cup.
With that, the prices that had gone as high as 70 million pounds came down crashing but time has healed the wounds and Torres did state that he was already injured in the World Cup while he was playing so the prices for him since then have gone back up and interest sparked back up.
Hodgson time and again gave advice to El Nino that if he wants to commit to something he should not do it in high tides where there is larger risk of drowning and eventually because of reasons that Torres himself has not stated yet, Hodgson has told on his behalf that he will be staying at Anfield in the next season.
Mascherano on the other hand is as adamant as ever and has told the manager to go ahead with the transfer when he met him after returning back from his vacations from the World Cup. The Nerrazzurri have expressed too that they eagerly anticipate the arrival of Mascherano at San Siro.
Mascherano might be leaving Anfield for San Siro according to his will but he should also remember that he is leaving Liverpool for Inter Milan which means that he is still legally bound to the club and Hodgson will surely try to benefit from this and try to sustain a deal that benefits the Merseyside.
The former Fulham manager, Hodgson stated, “Yes he wants to leave the club, he has made that perfectly clear. He wanted to leave the club a year ago. It disappoints me but it is not unusual. He is a Liverpool player, he has a two year contract and I expect him to honour that contract until the day that Liverpool decide to sell him”.
Torres has changed all the tides that planned to invade and conquer in the Premier League. Now Manchester City and Manchester United along with Chelsea and Barcelona will look dumbfounded after they chased the star all summer and in the end he decides to stay with the Reds.
Hodgson revealed, “He is looking forward to coming back here. He has told us that he is looking forward to getting back to work and playing for Liverpool next season, so some reports I would suggest are erroneous”.
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