Benitez boosted by contract talks with Mascherano

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez has held “positive talks” with Javier Mascherano about the midfielder’s future at the club.

Mascherano was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona this summer but Benitez insists the player is happy and negotiations are under way about extending his current deal, which runs for another two years.

“We were talking with him and his agent a month ago about our idea and his idea,” Benitez told the club’s website, www.liverpoolfc.tv.