Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo have a rather big article on Javier Mascherano’s future in their Wednesday edition. In a ‘top secret’ section, it’s claimed the defender has told Barcelona he wants to leave the club in the January transfer window.
Annoyed at no longer being first choice, Mascherano is said to be determined to leave, but Barcelona aren’t hugely keen on an exit.
The Argentine is great back-up, when fit, so it wouldn’t really make sense to let him go, unless it’s simply too hard to keep a sulky Mascherano around the place.
Mundo Deportivo explain the Argentine has an offer of a little over €5m, and ‘everything points to the Chinese Super League’ although no team has been named at this stage.
Mascherano wants to go to a lesser league and have an easy second half of the season ahead of the World Cup. It sounds slightly like a working holiday.
But €5m for Mascherano, who has another season after the current one on his Barcelona contract? It doesn’t sound like a great deal, there was a time, not so long ago, when clubs would be expecting €20m+ from China for such a transfer.
