Liverpool held constructive talks with Diego Maradona on Friday as the new Argentina boss dropped by to outline his future plans.
The Argentina legend spent almost two hours at the Reds' Melwood HQ talking to boss Rafa Benitez and captain-elect Javier Mascherano.
Maradona wants the midfielder as his captain, a role which Mascherano himself has said he does not want, although Benitez thinks he has the right attributes to do the job.
Benitez said: "We talked about what Maradona wants from us and from Javier. The talks were positive, it was helpful to know what he was thinking.
"I did not discuss Javier becoming captain. But he has all the right credentials if he wants to do the job. He would make a great captain."
Mascherano was the last player to leave the training ground, but refused to discuss details of his meeting with Maradona.
The legendary 1986 World Cup winning captain brought Melwood to a standstill as players lined up to speak to him, with Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Keane heading the queue!
"I was having a discussion with Maradona in my office, but it was very difficult. There was a constant stream of our biggest players wanting to meet him. Probably our two most famous were first in the queue," said Benitez, who added: "Maradona was great, he was very patient with all the requests. Even some of Carragher's family turned up.
"Xabi Alonso also wanted to meet him, his father had played alongside Maradona at Barcelona.
"We also had lots of the youngsters here who were just speechless and wanted to meet him."
Maradona's visit came after he had held meetings at Manchester United's training ground earlier in the day.
The Argentina legend spent almost two hours at the Reds' Melwood HQ talking to boss Rafa Benitez and captain-elect Javier Mascherano.
Maradona wants the midfielder as his captain, a role which Mascherano himself has said he does not want, although Benitez thinks he has the right attributes to do the job.
Benitez said: "We talked about what Maradona wants from us and from Javier. The talks were positive, it was helpful to know what he was thinking.
"I did not discuss Javier becoming captain. But he has all the right credentials if he wants to do the job. He would make a great captain."
Mascherano was the last player to leave the training ground, but refused to discuss details of his meeting with Maradona.
The legendary 1986 World Cup winning captain brought Melwood to a standstill as players lined up to speak to him, with Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Keane heading the queue!
"I was having a discussion with Maradona in my office, but it was very difficult. There was a constant stream of our biggest players wanting to meet him. Probably our two most famous were first in the queue," said Benitez, who added: "Maradona was great, he was very patient with all the requests. Even some of Carragher's family turned up.
"Xabi Alonso also wanted to meet him, his father had played alongside Maradona at Barcelona.
"We also had lots of the youngsters here who were just speechless and wanted to meet him."
Maradona's visit came after he had held meetings at Manchester United's training ground earlier in the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment