Want-away Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano finally got his wish today as Liverpool have accepted a bid of around £18 million from Barcelona for the Argentina captain. Mascherano’s relationship with the club reached an all time low on Monday when the Argentine withdrew himself from the squad to face Manchester City. Mascherano’s decision to withdraw from the squad came about due to the fact that Barcelona had tabled a bid for his services and both he and manager Roy Hodgson felt that he was “not in the right frame of mind” to play for the club. Mascherano’s refusal to play for the club even though they pay him an exorbitant amount of money to do so is hugely disrespectful and unprofessional.
It is disrespectful to the fans who have paid their hard earned money to support the club and watch their players play, only for one of their best to mock their loyal stupidity by refusing to play and leaving the team severely depleted. It is a huge disrespect to a club of the stature of Liverpool for a player to openly demand a move from such an exalted club; a club which rescued Mascherano from his West Ham nightmare and helped to establish his reputation as one of the world’s premier defensive midfielders.
His selfish actions have threatened to disrupt the harmony of the team. Following his withdrawal from Monday’s squad, reports surfaced that a number of senior players confronted Mascherano in training about his decision to omit himself from the team. I’m pretty sure that if he was available, Hodgson would have played Mascherano on Monday evening. Therefore, Mascherano’s decision to leave himself out would have seriously comprised Hodgson’s tactics and formation for the game- and so it proved as Manchester City ran out convincing 3-0 winners against a disjointed Liverpool team which lacked the steel and intensity that Mascherano would have undoubtedly brought.
Macherano’s decision to effectively go on strike until he gets his move points to how player power is increasingly getting out of hand. This offseason has seen a number of players refuse to play for their clubs in an attempt to engineer a move elsewhere. We have seen it at Stoke City where goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has not featured following interest from league leaders Chelsea. We have also seen it at Fulham where another coveted goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has found himself out of the team after handing in a transfer request.
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson deserves huge credit in standing up to the pressures of player power. He refused to be bullied and only agreed to sell Mascherano on the club’s term and not on the player’s.
Mascherano should be ashamed of his actions. He refused to play for the club but still colleceted a sizeable wage packet for his disloyalty. The PFA and FA should step in to curb this problem before player power threatens to spiral out of control.
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