JustChelsea.com

The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano is keen to join his old boss Rafael Benitez at Inter Milan, and the Reds new boss Roy Hodgson has targeted the Standard Liege midfielder Steven Defour as the first-choice to replace him.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Hodgson will be able to buy the experienced Belgian international for about half the amount to be gained from Mascherano, which will give him a bit more funds to chase other targets.

Liege had an awful season in Belgium last year, but weren’t helped by Defours long-term injury. Reports say that the lack of European football this season has persuaded Defour it is time for him to move on, and the Premiership was always going to be his first choice.

The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano would love to move to Inter Milan, according to his agent Walter Tamer, and he says negotiations would be “very easy”, but Liverpool would have to agree terms with Inter first.

Tamer said: “For him to be linked to Inter has a magical taste, it’s a dream. Think about it, the strongest team in the world wants him, a team where many of Mascherano’s compatriots play and a side that is guided by a coach with whom Mascherano has a personal bond.

There have been extensive Liverpool transfer rumours lately, and the biggest one has been the reports that Javier Mascherano would be the first Liverpool player to follow Rafael Benitez to Inter Milan. Now it looks like the whispers are based in fact as his agent has revealed that “preliminary talks” have alreafy taken place.

Marco Piccioli, the agent of Mascherano, said today: “There has already been a first contact with director Marco Branca,”

According to reports this morning, the ex-Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is expected to be unveiled as the new coach at Inter Milan this week, and his first move will be to ask Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano to join him in Italy.

Rafael Benitez has had many years at Liverpool without winning the Premiership trophy, but now it seems he is going to be given the chance to win a title with Inter Milan.

Jose Mourinho left the Italian giants for Real Madrid this week, and Inter director Gabriele Oriali believes that Benitez is the right man to take the helm and try and emulate the Special One, and he says that Benitez is keen to do it.

The ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho may have just won the Champions League for the second time with Inter Milan, but he is already looking forward to winning it for a third time with Real Madrid!

He was asked if he had a choice of big clubs to choose from for his next job, but he replied: “No, I don’t have a choice. But Real Madrid is Real Madrid. Everyone knows English football is my passion and I will go back to England one day.

This Champions League Final was always going to be about the ex-Chelsea manager, who has finally taken Inter Milan above the domestic level of Serie A, and put them back at the pinnacle of European football.

The Special One won this trophy before with Porto, but failed to take Chelsea past the semi-final. This time he proved he still has what it takes to tactically outmanouevre the top managers in Europe, knocking out Chelsea and reigning champions Barcelona on the way.

The Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho came to the Camp Nou to “do a job” on Lionel Messi and Barcelona. He knew that his team just needed to stop the European Champions from scoring two goals for him to reach his second European Champions League Final.

And he did it with style. He showed Arsenal that it is possible to keep the “best team in the world” in check, and had nine men behind the ball at all times.

It was an excellent goal by Gerard Pique, but it wasn’t enough to stop Jose Mourinho taking Inter Milan through to the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich next month.

Mourinho looked ecstatic after the referee blew the whistle, especially as Barcelona were disallowed a last minute goal by Bojan Krkic which would have put them through to the final.

The young Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero is now ready to leave the club that made him into a star, and has been discussing the relative merits of joining the three main contenders for his signature, Chelsea, Man City and Inter Milan, and he has come out clearly in favour of a move to Stamford Bridge.

“Chelsea are a great club. They have become one of the most feared in Europe over recent years,” he said.