Xabi and Masch will be staying, says goalkeeper Reina

July 5, 2009

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina is confident the club will keep hold of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.

Reina’s Spanish team-mate Xabi Alonso has been strongly linked with Real Madrid, while Barcelona are thought to be courting Mascherano.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez has rejected speculation linking the pair with moves out of Anfield and Reina believes his manager has no plans to sell the pair as he builds a side capable of challenging for the Premier League title.

“I believe that he [Benitez] has his mind very clear and his idea in these moments is to not sell,” Reina told EFE.

“He wants to continue with a team he has known for a long time, with an already fundamented base and where we know almost everything.

“Whoever wants to touch this team or this structure [Liverpool] will have to pay a lot of money.”

Meanwhile, Reina has hit out at Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez for snubbing moves to Liverpool this summer.

Long-term transfer target Barry left Aston Villa to join City earlier this summer and Tevez looks set to join him at Eastlands after ruling out a switch to Liverpool.

Reina believes the pair have made a mistake in shunning Liverpool feeling money was the motivating factor in their decisions to spurn a switch to Anfield

“Apparently, they moved for the money. That is their decision but I also think it is their problem if they cannot see that Liverpool is a bigger club,” Reina is quoted as saying in the News of the World.

“It’s up to them what they do but let me tell them that I am very proud to play for Liverpool. We can offer European football and I think that should have been a consideration for them.”

“Everybody knows what it is to play for Liverpool. It’s a pleasure and a tremendous honour. I am surprised they didn’t consider these things.”

“Some things in a player’s career should be more important than money.”

By: Abhimanyu Rajput

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