Liverpool

The Reds have given the Argentina captain permission to speak to the La Liga champions Barcelona after agreeing a fee for the 26-year-old combative midfielder with the Catalans.

Mascherano was also wanted by former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez – who is now at Inter Milan – but Pep Guardiola appears to have won the battle for the former West Ham man (Barca 4/5f – La Liga Outright).

Kuyt was also believed to be in Benitez’s transfer plans for the summer window and although the hard-working Holland international was interested in who was in for him, he has been assured he has a big future on Merseyside.

Kuyt said: “My future is at Liverpool. I have had four great years at the club.

“Unfortunately we have not won any trophies but hopefully I will in future.

“The point for me was that I am 30 years old and I wanted to know if there was any interest from any other club in the world.

“Liverpool spoke to me and explained everything. They said I was really important.

“That made me very proud and at that point I focused my thoughts on Liverpool.”

But Mascherano’s days as a Liverpool player are coming to an end as he gets his wish of a move away, with his family failing to settle in the north west.

A Liverpool statement read: “Liverpool Football Club have agreed terms for the transfer of Javier Mascherano to FC Barcelona.

“The Spanish club have now been given permission to speak to the Argentina midfielder.”

Barcelona claim Mascherano will sign a four-year deal subject to a medical although he will not be on board for Sunday’s trip to Racing Santander.

A Barca statement confirmed: “FC Barcelona and Liverpool FC have reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of Javier Mascherano to the club for the next four seasons.

“The deal was closed after intensive efforts made by the club in the final hours and through the player himself in the negotiations.

“Barcelona will report the details of the operation once the player passes the medical and the transfer is concluded.

“It is hoped Javier Mascherano will arrive in Barcelona this weekend.”

Barcelona turned to Mascherano after being frustrated in their efforts to repatriate Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas (Barca 13/5f – Champions League Outright).

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The Argentina captain has confirmed that he wants to leave the Anfield club in the current transfer window after becoming disillusioned on Merseyside.

Mascherano has not travelled with his team-mates to their Europa League qualifier against Turkish side Trabzonspor and he could have played his last game for the club.

The 26-year-old has been linked with a move to follow former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez to Inter all summer and according to the club’s sporting director, Marco Branca, the San Siro outfit have made a firm for the player.

He said: “I sent an offer to Liverpool by fax on Tuesday and I am waiting for a reply from them.

“We’re not speaking to the player at the moment because we want to do this in the right way and make sure that Liverpool are happy.

“We’ve made a very good offer, around the amount they are asking for. We have a strong team here, the best in Europe, but we would like to add one or two players to make us even stronger.”

Inter (Evens – Serie A outright) have reported to have made a bid of around £20m for the defensive midfielder as they look to retain their Serie A title.

The blue side of Milan had an outstanding campaign last season, winning the domestic double and the Champions League under former manager Jose Mourinho.

Benitez will be keen to continue that success with Inter and the bid they have put in for Mascherano is understood to be more than a rival offer from Barcelona.

The Catalan club made an offer of around £16m for the midfielder – which Liverpool have rejected – however Barca star Lionel Messi has urged the Premier League club to sell the player this summer.

He said: “Javier won’t play for the club again, I can assure you of that, and I think the Liverpool coach knows that now.

“Javier’s family are unhappy and the pressure of seeing that is making him depressed. Liverpool must act humanely and let him go.”

Mascherano was a favourite of Benitez and he could be persuaded to join the Italian club because he would face a tough challenge to break into Barca’s star-studded midfield, which includes the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

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Liverpool

The tough-tackling midfielder has been linked with a summer move away from Liverpool for some time and now Hodgson has revealed the player has expressed his desire to move on.

“Yes he wants to leave the club. He’s made that perfectly clear,” said Hodgson.

“I think he wanted to leave a year ago. He wants to leave now as well.”

Italian giants and European champions Inter Milan have been linked with a swoop for the 26-year-old, where he would link up with former boss Rafael Benitez.

However, despite Mascherano’s desire to leave Anfield, Hodgson refused to rule out the possibility that the Argentinean will stay and is adamant the club will make the final decision.

He added: “The mere fact that the player is a little bit unhappy with his situation and will prefer to leave doesn’t necessarily mean he will leave.

“Yes, it disappoints me, but it’s not unusual. I think in every football club through the Premier League and all throughout the world there will be players playing in a team that would prefer to leave.

“Some are allowed to, some are not allowed to. So that’s the situation with Mascherano.”

Mascherano still has two years left on his current contract at Anfield and Liverpool will not allow the midfielder to leave on the cheap.

There has also been plenty of speculation surrounding the future of striker Fernando Torres.  The former Atletico Madrid man is a known target of Manchester City, with boss Roberto Mancini confirming his interest earlier in the week, and it is thought current champions Chelsea are also chasing the Spanish star.

Hodgson is desperate to retain the services of the talented striker and the former Fulham boss believes Torres is happy to remain a Liverpool player (Liverpool 12/1 to win the Premier League).

“He’s spending a lot of time with his family. As far as I know he’s keeping a very low profile and not really speaking to anybody. But he has told us that he’s looking forward to Monday and getting back to work,” said Hodgson on Torres.

“He’s looking forward to playing for Liverpool next season. That’s what I know and I would suggest that any other reports are erroneous.”

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Diego Milito

New Inter boss Rafael Benitez wants Mascherano to follow him from Anfield and the midfielder has yet to speak to new Liverpool chief Roy Hodgson about his future, despite the Reds boss’ attempts to contact him.

That has given Inter, who are the evens favourites with totesport to retain their Serie A title, confidence they will secure the Argentina international and Milito, for one, is sure the 26-year-old will eventually make the move to the San Siro.

“We are very excited about Mascherano joining us at Inter,” he said.

“He has made it clear he wants to be here and it’s just down to the relevant people agreeing the deal now.

“In my view we are getting the very best defensive midfield player in the world and Maradona calls him one of the three most important players in the Argentina squad along with Lionel Messi and (Carlos) Tevez. That’s how highly he is regarded.”

Milito added: “I think it’s unrealistic of Liverpool to think they can keep hold of Mascherano when they can’t even offer Champions League football and are not challenging Manchester United and Chelsea for the Premier League title.

“The boss and Mascherano have a good friendship so there were no other clubs on the cards for him after that, including Barcelona. He has wanted to join for a while but when the boss joined Inter I think that sealed the deal.”

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