Juventus confirm contact with Barça's Javier Mascherano
As exclusively revealed by SPORT on Wednesday, Juventus and Javier Mascherano have reached an agreement in principle over a three year deal, but the Old Lady have still not began talks with Barcelona.
The Italian club's plan was to reach a 100 percent agreement with the player before starting to negotiate with the Catalan club. With an alliance with Mascherano up their sleeve, it will make it easier to sign the Argentine, while Barça face an uphill task to retain him.
From Turin they have confirmed that Mascherano, whose contract at Camp Nou runs until 2018, wants a change of scenery and is looking for new motivation. With Barça, he has won everything and Juventus are prepared to offer him a bigger deal than he currently has.
At the same time, if Mascherano does finally complete a move to Juve, it would be as a midfielder, his favourite position, at the very least until Claudio Marchisio returns from a knee injury. Once Marchisio recovers, 'El Jefcito' would be an option in defence and midifled as Juve look to build on their five successive Serie A titles by taking a step forward in Europe.
