Any reason to get rid of Aqualani?

I do not think it is a good reason.
He's injury prone but fit enough to play for Juventus?

Both Gerrard and Torres were "injury prone" last season too.

It's nothing new. It's speculated for months since Rafa left.
It's been speculated Mascherano might leave, likewise Torres, Gerrard, Lucas, Aquilani, Reina, Kuyt etc.

I am not SURPRISED at all.

Is C.Cole better than Babel? I doubt so.

We're not only crippled by tight budget. We have deteriorated reputation too.

Give you an example, we could have signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He's on loan for a year, with an option of signing him permanently at 24 million euro.
Meaning we don't need to pay millions of dollar upfront. It's a steal.
He's much bigger (in size) than Heskey & C.Cole. He's much skillful too.
Will he join Liverpool?

I heard Spurs is sigining Van Der Vaart for 8million?
Will he join Liverpool if we offer the same price?

Look, we are like "mid-table" team now.
Sad but true.

It should work both ways.
Roy Hodgson should just shut his mouth and let Mascherano go (especially he knows he has no TOKEN to convince Mascherano to stay). He just made the situation complicated.
Mascherano would not have hit back on Roy Hodgson.

http://www.livesoccertv.com/news/1347/live...player-poacher/
On 24 Aug, Roy Hodgon said Rafa was a player poacher.
Well, he tried to stop Mascherano from leaving the club.
He probably could stop Inter, by telling the media that Rafa was a poacher, but not Barcelona.
(I think he forgot Rafa is just a COACH at Inter Milan).
He himself poached player from his former club, Paul Konchesky. Hypocrites?

http://www.totalfootballmadness.com/2010/0...the-right-mind/
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...cc=4716&cc=4716
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...ansfers&cc=4716
Obviously, he couldn't stop Mascherano from leaving for Barcelona.
And he ended up talking a lot.

P/S How Mascherano left for Barcelona? It's the same way how Roy Hodgson joined Liverpool from Fulham.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...oy-Hodgson.html
http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverp...d-al-fayed.html

This post has been edited by ALeUNe: Sep 2 2010, 10:11 AM

I think Mascherano will not have to make as many rough tackles at Barcelona.
As his teammates like Iniesta and Xavi are excellent in holding balls. They will have lesser chance of losing possession of balls in the midfield.

As you brought this up,

this is what Mascherano said,
"When they started to involve my family and to say things that didn't make sense, I obviously suffered," he said. "They'd promised me something for a whole year and they never fulfilled their promise. And that didn't have anything to do with my family or anything else. When you read or hear lies, you obviously get angry."

Firstly, do you know what did they promise and fail to deliver? Who are they?
Secondly, how did he hurt the fans? Particularly how did he hurt you?

Attached thumbnail(s)

Owen left us no bargaining chip (as he's running out of contract). He left for RM at such dirt cheap disgraced price (8 million?? Yuck, it's disgusting).
We did not expect him to leave. We thought he was Liverpool man (like Carragher & Gerrard). Fans saw him like "Torres".
The worst part is, he went to RM as a bench-warmer. What an insult??!! A Liverpool home grown "Torres" joined RM as bench-warmer???
The worst NIAMAH insult is, there was no place for him in RM.
The "Phenomenon" Ronaldo (39 million) and the "evergreen" Raul were always in the starting lineup.
They were much better in terms of ball control & finishing skills (than the traitor).
He couldn't play as 2nd striker as well, as RM had Z.Zidane (world record transfer, 75 million) and L.Figo (world record transfer, 37 million).
He obviously didn't have the skills like Zidane and Figo.
So, what was he doing in RM? Licking bench? Typical "Judas".

As for Mascherano, we know he can fetch reasonable price .
We know he has a high possibility of leaving Liverpool. We see it coming since last season.
Situation got worst since Rafa left. And our team becomes "mid-table" team.
We see that (our stars leaving) coming too. We expected it. So, no surprise.
Mascherano expressed explicitly that he is leaving (unlike the "Judas").
Secondly, who with the right mind would turn down the offer from Barcelona? Especially after "Barcelona" won the World Cup 2010.
He's leaving for Barcelona. A dream come true. Fully understandable & acceptable.
With his ability, he can be an anchor in Barcelona's defense.
He knows he is going to be starting lineup. Barcelona know he will greatly strengthen the team's midfield/defense.
Last but not least, Mascherano should adapt well in Barcelona - as he speaks spanish.

You can't find the answer?
I believe you are well aware of above points.
Try open your eyes and you'll see it.

---

Added on September 4, 2010, 2:58 amI find it interesting.
Glad to see Gerard Houllier back to managing EPL team.

This post has been edited by ALeUNe: Sep 4 2010, 02:58 AM

No one forgets what Owen contributed.

Why I can accept the reason Mascherano left for Barcelona? I have told you. Open your eyes and read again.
Why I see Owen as a traitor joining RM? I have told you too. Read again.

I just want to touch on "dream comes true".
It is Barcelona we are dealing with. I rate them as the top football club in the world.
Look at the Barcelona boys played during World Cup and you know how good they are.
Remember the captain of Arsenal, Fabregas, wore the Barcelona jersey? You know how reputable they are after world cup '10.
With Mascherano's ability, we know Mascherano has alot to give at Barcelona. There are rooms for his contribution.
What the heck Owen was doing in Real Madrid? Ronaldo, Raul, Zidane and Figo are all ahead of him in terms of skills and names at the time.
These big names were the lethal attacking force at RM & RM paid world-record transfer fees for these big names. How much RM paid for Owen?
What dream did he want to achieve at RM? There were no rooms for his contribution at RM.
Still no convinced? See how Owen fled RM after 1 season and you'll know he contributed nothing there.
Open your eyes and see.

P/S I don't feel bad Owen joined both Newcastle & ManU 'cos I see him like "traitor" since he joined RM.
He could have joined Liverpool after RM & Newcastle.
Again and again, he's showed to us all that he is NOT Liverpool man afterall.
No one forgets his contribution but his past contribution is not relevant any more.

P/S RM sold Owen to Newcastle for 12 million. 50% more than RM paid to Liverpool. A bench-warmer that worth 12 million.
Liverpool was forced to sell her home-grown "Torres" for 8 million. Yuck, this is disgusting.

This post has been edited by ALeUNe: Sep 4 2010, 10:03 AM

Do you see Roy Hodgson joining Liverpool as something horrible?
You know, he dumped Fullham for Liverpool.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...oy-Hodgson.html
http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverp...d-al-fayed.html

I think we have got nothing left by summer.
The 2 clowns will "mortgage" our stadium & players.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...england&cc=4716

Why Martin O'Neil resigned from AV?
Lack of transfer kit?
So, do we have transfer kit @ Liverpool?