Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is prepared to allow Javier Mascherano to leave the club for free when his contract runs out in two years.
The Argentina international is keen to leave England due to family reasons and former Reds boss Rafael Benitez would like to bring Mascherano to Inter Milan with him.
However, the Serie A giants refuse to pay Liverpool’s asking price of £30 million, meaning that the midfielder will have to wait to leave until January at the earliest.
Hodgson, who took over for Benitez this summer after Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh in the Premier League last season.
With the Reds preparing for the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie against Trabzonspor at Anfield, Hodgson acknowledged that he would be happy to keep Mascherano at Liverpool for the next two seasons.
"I'd be quite happy to work the two years with him. If he then wanted to walk away, then so be it,” Hodgson told The Sun.
"The nicest thing of all would be if he signed a new contract, it's there for him. But nobody is putting him under any pressure.
"I'm very happy he remains with us because in an ideal world if it was simply a situation of 'would we be prepared to listen to offers for Mascherano', I would say 'no, we aren't'.
"It's only this promise that was made a year ago that lingers over my head, which means I'm even prepared to go as far as this.”
Hodgson revealed that Liverpool has not received a bid for Mascherano, and the Reds boss insists that they will not sell unless they get a proper offer.
"We haven't had an offer for him. We want one that meets what we think is his value and Javier is perfectly happy with this - he doesn't expect the club to just let him walk out of here.
"His problem is a familiar one that his wife doesn't come to Liverpool, so when he's here he lives alone.
"But he realizes he is a very valuable player, the best at what he does in the world and a club has to offer us what he is worth."
No comments:
Post a Comment