Roy sees red at Masch mess
The Argentina captain’s long-awaited transfer to the Spanish club is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours after the Reds accepted a suitable bid, having rejected a £16 million (€19.4m) offer last weekend.
When news of that approach reached the 26-year-old, he backed out of playing in the Barclays Premier League defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands on Monday. That severely disrupted Hodgson’s plans and he hit out at the player’s unprofessionalism.
“It is not easy for me to defend the actions (of Mascherano) because professionals are paid to play and when they are called on to play, they play,” he said.
“We had a player at Blackburn, Graeme Le Saux, who was very agitated when I joined the club because he was determined to go to Chelsea and that caused a lot of problems in pre-season.
“Tim Sherwood was wanted by Tottenham and that caused a lot of problems because he wanted to get back to London.
“These situations do occur, unfortunately, and we have to live with it. I don’t think they (the players) mean it as a challenge to your authority or a challenge to the club’s authority.
“It is just a selfish situation that they have got something they want to do and they just expect the club, and therefore you as one of the leaders of the club, to bow down and accept that they are going to do it.
“Unfortunately there are going to be periods when there will be some unpleasantness because players must also understand that when you sign contracts, you sign contracts to play.
“It doesn’t bother me as a challenge to my authority, it is just a fact of life.
“But it is a fact of life which gets exacerbated in a one-month period in January and between July and August when it is a time of year when a lot of people are trying to do their business.”
Mascherano has agreed a four-year, £85,000-a-week contract subject to a medical. His departure leaves Hodgson little time to bring in reinforcements but he is optimistic he can add players before the transfer window closes.
A deal is close for Fulham left-back Paul Konchesky but Hodgson also needs reinforcements up front to give Fernando Torres some back-up.
“We still need to improve our squad and we haven’t much time to do that,” said the Reds boss. “With Mascherano going we are losing a lot of player and not bringing any in so it is not good.”
Meanwhile Alberto Aquilani is eager to put his disappointing year at Liverpool behind him after completing his move to Juventus on a one-year loan. “I am physically very well and I’m ready to play,” said Aquilani.
Much was expected from the 26-year-old when he was signed by Liverpool from Roma in a £17m deal last summer. However, injuries limited his playing time. He made just nine Premier League starts and scored twice in 26 appearances.
He is set to make his debut with Juve in tomorrow’s Serie A clash at Bari.
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