Eleven years after leaving Liverpool, Javier Mascherano has released details of his forced retirement. The former midfielder regrets the way his departure came about, but says that Liverpool did not keep the agreements and partly because of this he refused to take action against Manchester City. In the summer of 2010, Mascherano then left for Barcelona, which paid 25 million euros for him.
Mascherano became a highly regarded defensive midfielder at Liverpool under Rafael Benítez, where he was bestowed cult status. Nevertheless, he could not escape to force a transfer to Barcelona in 2010. “There was an agreement with Liverpool that they would let me go with a good offer,” says Mascherano, who has since stopped. FourFourTwo “But after Benítez left, there was little of that left.”
The 147-time Argentinian international then decided to take matters into his own hands. “I was quite upset that they didn’t keep their word. Refusing to play against Manchester City was the way to express my irritation. I told the club that I wanted to leave for family reasons, so I was very upset that I had to act like that. But there was no other option. Otherwise Liverpool wouldn’t keep its promise. ”
According to Mascherano, then-director Christian Purslow played an important role in his decision to leave Liverpool. “He said I could leave with a good offer. But when an offer was on the table, Liverpool looked the other way. ” The disagreement led to Mascherano eventually making the switch to Barcelona, where he became the national champion of Spain four times and won the Champions League twice. Last year he ended his career.
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