Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano. (Photo : Getty Images)
Recent reports are out that Javier Mascherano had rejected a £39 million offer from an unnamed Chinese Super League club as the Barcelona midfielder opted to stay with the Catalonia giants for the foreseeable future.
Daily Mail Online reported, citing local Spanish media outlet Mundo Deportivo, that the 31-year-old Argentina international has "rejected the chance of a bumper payday in China and chosen to stay with Barcelona" as he wanted to "continue to add to the 243 appearances he has made for the Catalan club".
The report mentioned that an unknown team from the China top flight league had offered him £39 million, but Mascherano immediately ignored it and did not even bothered to inform his mother club's senior officials about the deal.
Mascherano, who is considered as one of the best in La Liga at his midfield position, is still under contract with Barça until 2018, more or less 24 months away.
He had been with the Blaugrana since August of 2010 when he was acquired from Liverpool FC for a transfer fee of £19 million. He is now on his sixth season with the club and had already appeared in 279 games in all competitions.
Meanwhile, Sports Mole noted that Mascherano is planning a return to his home country's first division association football league, the Argentine Primera División, before he officially retires from professional competition, which makes a move to China a long shot for the San Lorenzo, Argentina native.
Mascherano began his senior career with Club Atlético River Plate in 2003 when he was only 18 years old, coming off Los Millonarios' youth academy as well.
He then played for Brazilian Serie A squad Sport Club Corinthians Paulista from 2005 to 2006 before transferring to the Premier League with West Ham United. He stayed with the Hammers for one season before joining top English club Liverpool.
Clubs from the Chinese Super League, China's premier association football division, have spent huge amounts of cash to lure in world class European football players in their prime this season.
During the last winter transfer window, the China transfer record was broken four times starting with the transfer of Elkeson from Guangzhou Evergrande to Shanghai SIPG for £15 million, then Ramires' £25 million signing from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning, before Guangzhou acquired Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid for £33 million.
The record stands at £38.4 million at the moment, which was the deal that sent Alex Teixeira to Jiangsu Suning from Shakhtar Donetsk.
