Roy Hodgson has expressed his anger at being coerced into the sale of Javier Mascherano as he condemned the Argentina captain's "selfish" attitude ahead of a proposed £20m move to Barcelona.
Mascherano will finally join the Spanish champions this weekend, subject to a medical and over a year after the Catalans first moved for the midfielder, after Liverpool compromised on a fee for the 26-year-old. The Anfield club had placed a £25m price-tag on a player signed for £18.7m in 2008 and rejected bids of £16m and £18m from Barcelona, plus a £6m and Sulley Muntari package from Internazionale, before accepting Barça's third and final offer.
Last week Hodgson said he would rather tie Mascherano to his contract until 2012 than accept less than the club's valuation, and said the Inter president, Massimo Moratti, had promised there would be no approach for any Liverpool players from the reigning European champions days before they faxed an offer. "A joke fax to keep some people at the club happy," said the Liverpool manager, who claimed his Anfield predecessor, Rafael BenÃtez, was behind moves for Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt.
But Hodgson admits he was given no alternative than to sanction Mascherano's exit following his non-appearance against Manchester City on Monday and efforts to leave Anfield. "There are a lot of factors I don't want to be drawn on too much," Hodgson said. "But it's not easy to defend his actions because professionals are paid to play and when called upon to do so, they should. But it is a complicated situation to be fair to him.
"I had a similar situation when I first went to Blackburn. Graeme Le Saux was determined to go to Chelsea and that caused us problems in the pre-season. Then Tim Sherwood was wanted by Tottenham and that caused problems because he was determined to get back to London. So this situation can occur unfortunately and you have to live with it. That's why we have to be forgiven for getting irritated when agents stir things even more."
Mascherano has been discontented at Liverpool since being refused a move to Barcelona last summer due to Xabi Alonso's departure to Real Madrid. His wife and young family failed to settle on Merseyside and have lived in Buenos Aires for the majority of his time at Liverpool, although Hodgson believes the Argentina international owed more respect to the club that rescued him from a miserable spell with West Ham United.
The manager added: "I don't think players mean it as a challenge to your authority or the club's, but it's a selfish situation where they want to do something and then expect the club and me, in my position as one of the leaders of the club, to bow down and accept they are going to get their way. Unfortunately then there will be periods of time when there is a bit of unpleasantness.
"Players must also understand when you sign contracts, you do so to play. If the club decides it's going to accept an offer for you and let you go then that's one thing. If the club say 'you have a contract, we're not selling', then therefore they are staying. It will be good next week because I like to work with the players and although I'd like to recruit a few more, it's much better when you are working with a group you know will be staying."
Liverpool have little time to reinvest the proceeds from Mascherano's impending sale but Hodgson wants a new left-back, central midfielder and forward before the window closes.
