The writing has been on the wall for Javier Mascherano at Barcelona for some time, and now it's official: Barcelona announced Tuesday that Mascherano would be leaving the club, with a ceremony planned for Wednesday. Mascherano has been at Barcelona for seven and a half seasons and has made more than 300 appearances.
Mascherano scored just one goal for Barcelona, a penalty, but he was a solid defender and defensive midfielder for a very long time.
#ThankYouMasche... for everything!@Mascheranopic.twitter.com/XsSkKh8gYK
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 23, 2018
Curiously, Barcelona didn't mention where it is Mascherano will be going, with China being floated as a potential destination. Most likely Barcelona are just trying to ship Mascherano off as quickly as possible so Philippe Coutinho can take his squad number (14) and they can sell jerseys.
In any case, Mascherano is officially leaving Barcelona for somewhere, anywhere, just please get out of here Javier so we can sell Coutinho jerseys so we can afford his salary.
You don't have to go home, Javier Mascherano, but you can't stay here.