Liverpool transfer rumours June 15th – Gerrard, Mascherano, Johnson and Benayoun

The papers are full of Liverpool transfer rumours this morning, and they all concern players leaving the club! The main man is Steven Gerrard, and the new England captain is reported by AS to be ready to join Real Madrid after the World Cup.

Jose Mourinho tried extremely hard to sign Gerrard when he was Chelsea manager, and believes that he would be a perfect alternative to Frank Lampard who he expects to stay at Chelsea. With Liverpool in turmoil he feels certain that the Scouser will be sure to win another few trophies before he retires, and Mourinho is certain he can deliver them.

Caughtoffside is under the impression that Barcelona will rival Madrid for his signature, and thinks they are willing to pay £40m for the 30 year-old. That seems a little farfetched to me, especially as they can’t raise that sum for Fabregas…..

It seems to be an open secret that Yossi Benayoun is moving to Chelsea, and the Guardian reports that the Israeli will be having a medical at Cobham this week after agreeing personal terms with Chelsea. They say that the two clubs are yet to agree on the transfer fee, but other papers say that a £6m or £6.5m figure has been agreed….

The Daily Mail is convinced that Javier Mascherano is nearly certain to follow Rafael Benitez to Inter Milan as he has revealed he has started to learn Italian, and thinks that Glen Johnson will be following him after Inter sell Maicon to Real Madrid. Maicon’s agent practically confirmed that he will be moving to the Spanish giants yesterday when he said: “The most likely scenario clearly remains Madrid.”

“I believe that with two prestigious directors such as Moratti and Florentino (Perez), it is not difficult to reach an agreement.”

AS thinks that the money raised from the sale of Maicon will be more than enough to prise Johnson from Liverpool, and the managerless club will take whatever they can get at the moment!

The Times goes even further, and thinks that there will be a mass exodus, with both Gerrard and Torres waiting until after the World Cup before making up their minds on their next clubs, and they then continue with: A number of other players are up for sale, with Liverpool open to offers for Ryan Babel, Albert Riera and Philipp Degen, among others, while Diego Cavalieri, the club’s second-choice goalkeeper, is seeking a transfer to secure regular first-team football, having been understudy to Pepe Reina for two years.

It is beginning to look like Roy Hodgson or Kenny Dalglish will have to buy a completely new team by the time one of them is appointed! Perhaps Hicks and Gillett think they can clear all their debts before selling the club on….