Mascherano is key to Rafa’s survival hopes

WHEN the dust finally settles on the internal strife that threatens the future of manager Rafael Benitez and is expected to precipitate a change in the ownership of the club, the name Javier Mascherano will figure prominently in any review of an uncomfortable episode in Liverpool’s recent history.

It was the club’s US owners’ refusal to sanction the £17 million permanent signing of the Argentine midfielder, who is midway a season-long loan deal, that triggered the public falling out between Benitez and his employers.

Now, with the Spaniard’s job prospects apparently waning by the day, it increasingly appears that, having unwittingly played a role in undermining Benitez, Mascherano will be key to extending his manager’s stay on Merseyside.