Liverpool tell Barca: Hands off Javier

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez on Wednesday insisted that the club would not sell Javier Mascherano, despite claims from the player’s agent that the midfielder would favour a move to Barcelona.

“Mascherano has no price,” Benitez told www.liverpoolfc.tv. “Barcelona could not afford to match his value to Liverpool Football Club. We do not want to sell and Javier is very happy here.

“I have spoken to Javier two or three times this summer – the last time was only last week – and he was very happy, very positive.

“He gave me the private number of his agent, Walter Tamer, and again the conversation was very positive and was all about football.”

Tamer was quoted in the British press as saying that Argentina captain Mascherano, arguably the best defensive midfielder in world football, would be proud that Barca were interested in him and suggested a move could be “feasible”.

But Benitez claimed he had made it clear that Liverpool would not sell a player he regards as a key component of his side.

“Walter told me that two clubs with big, big names were asking after Mascherano – and I told him to forget it, that Javier was happy in Liverpool and he was not for sale,” the Reds manager added.

“So I was surprised to see the agent’s comments today.

“He has a long contract and any club can forget about bidding for him. They can offer 40 million pounds or even 50 million, we don’t want to sell.”

There has been speculation that Benitez could be forced to sell some key players this summer because of the financially precarious position of the club’s American owners, who have to refinance 350 million pounds of debts by July 24.

But the Spaniard has insisted he will only consider offloading fringe players and that he does have some money to spent. An extra striker and a new right-back are the club’s main priorities with Valencia’s David Silva the principal target in the former category.