Barcelona star Lionel Messi has maintained the pressure in the tug-of-war for Javier Mascherano by reiterating his desire for the Liverpool midfielder to join him at the Nou Camp.
Argentina captain Mascherano is a major target for Barcelona and even though manager Rafael Benitez has slapped a £50million price tag on the player, that does not seem to have deterred the Catalans.
"Of course I would like him to join, who would not want to play with great players like Javier," Messi told El Mundo Deportivo. "I hope he can come here."
There has been speculation suggesting Mascherano wants to become one of Liverpool's highest earners and that his wife has not settled on Merseyside.
But the player himself has spoken in glowing terms about Benitez and the relationship he has with the manager who rescued him from a miserable spell in West Ham's reserves just over two years ago.
Benitez is determined to keep the combative Argentinian but it appears Barcelona are not yet ready to give up their pursuit of the 25-year-old.
The Liverpool boss is facing attacks on all sides from Spanish clubs with Real Madrid stepping up their bid to sign Xabi Alonso.
Rumours of a £30million bid have been circulating as returning Real president Florentino Perez continues to try to spend his way to success in an attempt to catch arch-rivals Barcelona, who won the treble last season.
The prospect of losing both his first-choice central midfielders is totally unpalatable to Benitez, who knows he has to strengthen his side if he is to catch Barclays Premier League champions Manchester United, having run them so close last season.
Comment 47 - 66 of 66
There is no way Barçelona would pay 50 MP for an overrated player !!
Do a search for comments from '4life99' and Hey Presto, they are all in Discussions about LFC, amazing EH. Crawl back under your Rock D+&KHEAD.
.TYPICAL LIVERFOOLS SCOUSE JOBLESS @#$%S AT IT AGAIN, PURE JEALOUSY COS THIS COMING SEASON IS GONNA SEE AN END TO THEIR REIGN OF 18 TITLES, AS SOON IT WILL BE UNITED 19 BIG ONES,LOL
YOU'LL ALWAYS WALK ALONE, COS UR SCUM SCUM SCUM
.TYPICAL LIVERFOOLS SCOUSE JOBLESS @#$%S AT IT AGAIN, PURE JEALOUSY COS THIS COMING SEASON IS GONNA SEE AN END TO THEIR REIGN OF 18 TITLES, AS SOON IT WILL BE UNITED 19 BIG ONES,LOL
YOU'LL ALWAYS WALK ALONE, COS UR SCUM SCUM SCUM
if liverpool lose mascherano and alonso it will be a massive blow 2 our title challege next season if we lose 1 of them it wont be so bad because 1 is replaceable but trying 2 replace 2 of the best central midfielders in the world will be impossible.Aplayer who can fill alonsos boots would be mark noble quality young english player
Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature. I thank you.
Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature. I thank you
Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature. I thank you
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Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature. I thank you.
mascherano and Alonso should stay,they re the best midifielders we ve.lucas is not good he cant replace mascherano.
TAKE THE 30MIL FOR MASCH AND 30MIL FOR ALONSO, THYAT FUNDS WILL BUY 4 TOP PLAYERS. AS FOR THE MANCS SCUM COMING ON HERE, THEY ARE WORRIED THAT NOBODY WANTS TO JOIN THEM. RONALDO USED THE CLUB AND PISTED ON THEM WHEN HE LEFT, ALL U MUGS THAT PAID FOR SEASON TICKETS AFTER HE GONE ARE FOOLS, LOOK AT REAL WORLD CLASS PLAYERS IN GERRARD AND TORRES, TOP CLUBS CANT SIGN THEM AS THEY ARE LOYAL. LIVERPOOL FOR THE TITLE. ARSENAL ARE CRUMBLING, MAN U ARE TOOTHLESS, CHELSEA WILL HAVE THERE RUN AND LITTLE ITALIAN WILL BRING IN THE SERIE A RUN OF PLAY AND ALL CHELSKI FANS WILL COMPLAIN..... ALL BUILDS FOR A LIVERPOOL DOMINATION, EVEN THO WE ARE STRUGGLING TO BUY, THEN AGAIN, WHOS MAN URE GONNA GET HAHAHA
is the rat man leaving with alonso or not?
evening nob cheesers
torres maun pure batty sucker!!!
Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature. I thank you.
TO ALL UNITED FANS OBSESSED WITH L.F.C PAGE JUST GO AWAAY AND CARRY ON BEING REAL MADRIDS FEEDER CLUB
Benitez, sell him if it's more than £30mil. you could get better & more intelligent defensive midfielders with the calibre of Gary McCallister back when he was playing for Liverpool. That would multiply the opponents' fear of the midfield and central defense of the team.
Manchester United are the top side in England at the moment and also for the past 18 years, they have been the biggest, best supported team for over 60 years, so they must be doing something right. I think the team next season will flourish without Ronaldo, they will bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some excited little upstarts, false pretenders like Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name, beneath us by nature.
with regards to comment 48 how can you say macherano dose not get punnished for fouls in the epl did you forget about the game against man u when he got sent of in the so called respect for ref rulles and as far as i can remember he was the one and only player to get a red card for such an offence wek in week out players like ROONEY RONALDO FERDINAND SO ON SO ON get away with ATTACKS on the ref and nothing is ever don then thats man u they can do what they like fergison rules the fa
Barcelona better think twice about this twit. he is good in EPL because he is never punished for foul play. Spanish refs may not give him the privilage. How effective has he been for Argentina without that advantage? I for one would love to see him go away and make the EPL a safer and fairer tournament.
Good night Mike
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