When it comes to transfers, players shouldn't mess with fans (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

A common trait shared by football supporters the world over is that they don't like good players leaving the club they support. Some departures are handled better than others, of course, and quite often it can be a clean break with no hard feelings and a mutual "good luck for the future" from both parties.

But even when it's an amicable enough split, football fans as a rule do not like to see their best players leave.

Supporters of the bigger clubs tend to take these "breakups" far worse than those who follow sides lower down the leagues. Players "moving up the ladder" is just a natural part of life for a supporter of a small club, but for fans of the big boys there's a much bigger grey area in terms of what is considered a "step up" -- and that can often lead to bad feeling when players move on.

When it's clearly a case of a player getting a much better offer -- one that not even the most fervent of supporters could begrudge them -- more often than not, depending on the club he's moving to, said player tends to move on with the best wishes of the fans ... providing he's done it the "right way," of course.

Which brings me nicely on to Javier Mascherano, who made headlines this week after an interview he did in the Times that apparently "revealed the reason" for his Anfield departure.

Didn't we already know the reason for his exit? Moving to Barcelona at that time was a complete no-brainer; not even the most biased of Kopites could have made a compelling case as to why Mascherano should have stayed at Anfield when opportunity knocked at Camp Nou.

No, what the fans really wanted to know was his version of events relating to the accusation that he refused to play in a game at Manchester City just before he moved to the Spanish giants.

After reading what the Argentine had to say, I have to say I'm still none the wiser as to what happened. Liverpool boss at the time, Roy Hodgson, claimed at the time that Mascherano was not selected because he was "not in the right frame of mind" to play, but it was widely reported that the midfielder had refused to play. A move to Barca had been mooted for weeks, but no fee had been agreed and as far as LFC were concerned, until a deal was agreed, Mascherano was a Liverpool player and should have been available for selection.

Read the rest of the article here.