Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano are constantly being linked with moves away from the club; but if Rafa does let either of these leave we can wave goodbye to a serious title challenge next year.
We’ve had every man and his dog saying how Rafa should be astute with his signings, not to repeat the mistakes in the market of 2002 when Diouf, Diao and ‘The next Zidane’ Cheyrou were brought in to ruin any chance Liverpool had; but should Rafa let Alonso or Mascherano leave then we would be doing the same thing – taking a step backwards.
Alonso has had critics at Anfield after a couple of off seasons, but last year he upped his game and showed everyone why is he such an integral part of our team. There’s no one around that would be available who can do what he does with such ease; control the pace of the game, pick out perfect passes and chip in with the odd screamer.
A fee of £25million has been talked about, how can anyone say this is a fair price when Real Madrid signed Lassana Diarra for £20million from Portsmouth – Alonso is 10 times the player Diarra is. Real are spending money like there’s no tomorrow, if they are paying top dollar for everyone else, why should Liverpool not be demanding a huge fee considering he has 3 years left on his current deal?
Liverpool are in the driving seat – he can’t walk away from the club; and unless a potential buyer meets a decent valuation then he isn’t going anywhere.
Lucas Leiva is nowhere near the standard that Alonso/Mascherano are at, so to throw him in and expect him to do a similar job simply is not going to happen – should either leave we need a like-for-like replacement.
The problem with Mascherano according to the press seems to be his family, apparently unsettled on Merseyside and are looking to leave; yet a fee of only £26 Million has been touted for his services. Not only is he the captain of the Argentine national team, he has been one of Rafa’s key players. Whenever anyone from LFC talks about the ’spine of the team’, his name is mentioned.
Barcelona are reportedly after him, but where would he fit into their midfield? Yaya Toure has signed a new contract, Xavi was the player of the tournament at Euro 2008 and was an integral part of the treble winning side of last year; Guardiola has stated on numerous occasions that Iniesta is the best player in his squad – something that has been echoed by his team mates. Barca try and play 4-3-3 as often as possible, throughout their age ranks to ensure they all understand the positions properly, so who is going to get dropped in a 3 man midfield that already has an established understanding?
In Toure’s absence, Abidal or Keita can step up into that position, and sometimes Messi drops back into the midfield to make it a 4-4-2 during games, so who is going to be sacrificed for Mascherano? Also, one third of Barca’s 3 pronged attack might be on his way to City, so there priority will be a striker.
Say we did sell both players, and got £50million; I can’t think of two players who could be just as important for the Reds (i know its not my job to) but who else can realistically be classed as a suitable replacement?
This summer is about getting it right, bringing in a couple of faces – no drastic overhaul is needed, we came very close with a squad with nowhere near as much depth as the likes of Chelsea/Man Utd (Ngog cannot be classed as a stand in for Torres). We need to keep our best players, and concentrate on bringing in a striker to play second foil to Fernando. This should not involve bringing in players unproven in the Premiership, as Houllier did in 2002 and set us back rather than forwards.
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