Javier Mascherano has finally broken the silence on his Liverpool departure, claiming unfulfilled promises contributed to his Anfield exit. The defensive midfielder left Merseyside for Barcelona in 2010 after spending three years at the Premier League club. However, following the departure of Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager, Mascherano admits he struggled to establish a rapport with his successor Roy Hodgson and managing director Christian Purslow. The nature of Mascherano's exit left his reputation among some of the Reds faithful tainted, but claims he was reluctant to share his version of events in the heat of the moment. "I didn't want to say anything at the time because of my respect for Liverpool," he revealed in The Times. "Maybe that was a mistake because it allowed other people to say bad things about me. But I do not regret it." Mascherano acknowledged his admiration for Liverpool but claims life was made difficult for him when the interest of Barcelona became clear. "Liverpool is a special club and it does not deserve to be treated badly," he said. "The people who were there at the time - the manager and Christian Purslow - have now gone but they know the truth. "When I went back to Liverpool for pre-season I had a lot of meetings with them and they were promising a lot of thing to me but never kept their word." Difficult He added: "I did not wake up one day and refuse to play. In the game before [Manchester] City we played against Arsenal and I gave everything because I was wearing the Liverpool shirt. "Why would I do that and risk getting injured when I knew that Barcelona were close to signing me and then refuse to play in another game? That doesn't make any sense. "We had been talking about completing the transfer for 20 days because the club also wanted to make it happen, but then they started to make things difficult for me." Mascherano admits he thoroughly enjoyed his time at Anfield and claims the bitter end to his time in England left a sour taste in his mouth. "The people treated me really well and I would never want to let them down," he insisted. "I wanted to leave in another way, but they didn't give me the chance to. "That is the truth. It left me with a bad feeling. My time at the club was over and I needed to move on, but I also needed to leave the club in a good way and that wasn't allowed to happen." Mascherano will return to English shores on Tuesday as Barcelona visit the Etihad Stadium for one of the most eagerly-anticipated Champions League clashes of the season. The Argentina international's compatriot, Sergio Aguero, is currently plying his trade with the Sky Blues but Mascherano admits his injury could give Barcelona the edge. Advantage "Sergio is a key player for them," he admitted. "He is one of the best strikers in the world and I do not want to say that it's good that he's injured, because he's my friend and I have a really good relationship with him. "But if he doesn't play, it is an advantage for us, that is the truth. It will be better for us if he can miss these games and then get fit afterwards." At Barcelona, Mascherano pays alongside another international colleague, Lionel Messi, who he claims is the best player he has ever seen. "There are people who say Leo could not play against Stoke," he added. "Stoke City? That he cannot play in England? Leo can play anywhere, against anyone. How can anyone doubt that?" "It's not because he is my friend. For me he is the best player I've seen in my life. I didn't see [Diego] Maradona, but of the ones I have seen Leo is definitely the best. "The best player in the world can play anywhere because his talent and his quality are unbelievable, I don't think he wants to play in England, though." http://www1.skysports.com/football/...reveals-reason-behind-his-liverpool-departure ------------- Thanks again Roy + old owners [video=youtube;mP6g-RUYMMc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP6g-RUYMMc[/video]
still reckon its our ****e weather and an unhappy wife. if we would have been challenging for the title etc is he expecting us to believe he wouldn't have wanted to go if barca came knocking and be happy to stay as these broken promises wouldn't have happened lol?
Nice one DR, thanks for the posting... He was a top player for us, and he's proved it at Barca as well... Shame he went like he did, but that's show biz im afraid...
Quality that we've massively missed and never replaced. However, the manager could have shagged his mrs, no excuse for refusing to play!
Sunshine is over rated I like it obv but wold be boring if it was sunny all the time but its what you're used to and grow up with I suppose
What a player he was/is. A world class DM and a player/personality our midfield badly needs - a real fighter and bully who will stand up against anyone. Shame he left the way he did but I'm not surprised as the management lied to our star players (including Torres).
It's no shock that some of our best players wanted out under Hodgson's spell as manager. We were playing some ****ing dire football, and now it's two players claiming they were lied to by staff. Thank **** Hodgson and Purslow are gone.
guessing told money would be available to invest in squad and please stay a bit longer blah blah. ****ing annoying some of the players we have lost because we had ****e owners and a **** now England manager lol still think masch wanted out any way, but Torres more to that than meets the eye i reckon.
SO.... I never read any comments before writing this, just to see if anyone else remembers this the year BEFORE... he and messi were quoted in the papers talking about the line up of him behind and all that sort of crap. In short. If people on here can be heavily critical of reina then this guy is plain lying here. NOw i had no issue at the time, rafa convinced him to give one more year and he did so. I expected him to go. So... how can he be talking about lfc making promised... even though i reckon hodgson and purslow were indeed clowns. surely its more accurate to say he wanted to go, he stayed and gave another year and fair enough.
not sure mate, don't want to sound harsh on torres, but i am wondering if its because he was lied to about investment in players and also the fact he was surrounded by a lot of ****e, and with his injury problems would make him out to be a bad player. i know he hasn't been great for Chelsea really since he has been there,but i reckon if he had stayed, we would be seeing a dif torres now with luis in the team,shame he never gave that a ruddy chance! he knows he was loved here and he thrived on it and also loved it, doesn't get that with the chavs, even stole our flag of him lol.
put it this way.. add meirels to torres and maschernao saying such... i have no doubt that players were filled with crap but they could see the same as the fans... cos we could. if the theory is maybe he might have stayed had he seem some massive investment is not really holding water for me. he had barca all lined up. you don;t hold barca as the reserve. you get that offer as a spanish speaker? its no 1.
I think the Torres one is obvious. He wanted to live the season after we finished second because the owners were ****s and we were only going one way, backwards. He wasn't allowed to leave despite being promised to if he gave one more season. TBQH, I don't blame him in wanting out (same goes for Mascherano) because we were a complete joke at the time. What annoyed me with Torres was his comments afterwards along with the fact he joined arguably our biggest rival of the time period he'd been at the club! Mascherano's refusal to play is what annoys me and he basically admits it in that article too! We've just done the same (give us one more year...) with Luis Suarez but he has a attitude that is second to none!
look my opinion is we all knew what mascherano wanted and he gave another year. for me i never had an issue with it. torres on the other hand could have gave a wee bit back to the club by staying til may cos RA would have been back. the club was in desperate trouble but APPARNETLY suarez was on his way. Had the gobshite stayed and we'd not played n'gog in the europa who knows what we might have got. wanting out fine... be honest. he left us in the ****e... then made crass comments about joining a big club... so he has had bench medals to boast about but i hope he has an awful tragic life i wish him ill.... but then i wished owen will too and look at him and his bulging cabinet... the biggest two things these two WORSHIPPED players have in common is LFC fans would have died for them when in red shirts and after LFC others won their medals for them while they picked up fat cheques every week. if reincarnation actually existed both would be snails that RHC eventual grandkids look at while waiting for hoverbuses on the way to work . and i'll be there to run them over with my wheelchair.
