Javier Mascherano has revealed his reasons for departing Liverpool for Barcelona in 2010.
The Argentine left Anfield under a cloud after seemingly falling out with then manager Roy Hodgson, and now the 29-year-old has accused the English club of unfulfilled promises.
"I didn't want to say anything at the time because of my respect for Liverpool. Maybe that was a mistake because it allowed other people to say bad things about me. But I do not regret it," he told The Times. "Liverpool is a special club and it does not deserve to be treated badly. The people who were there at the time - the manager and Christian Purslow - have now gone but they know the truth.
"When I went back to Liverpool for pre-season, I had a lot of meetings with them and they were promising a lot of thing to me but never kept their word. I did not wake up one day and refuse to play. In the game before [Manchester] City we played against Arsenal and I gave everything because I was wearing the Liverpool shirt.
"Why would I do that and risk getting injured when I knew that Barcelona were close to signing me and then refuse to play in another game? That doesn't make any sense. We had been talking about completing the transfer for 20 days because the club also wanted to make it happen, but then they started to make things difficult for me."
Mascherano has 95 international caps to his name.
Matt Law
