If I can stay awake long enough I will comment on the (to me) completely improbable and disappointing semifinal and final matches of the African Cup of Nations.

But I just finished watching Blues v Reds and this is what I have to say: Liverpool need to ink Mascherano, and Chelsea need to find a proper replacement for Makelele.

Claude Makelele is without question my favorite living fussball player.

When Madrid let him go, Hierro said:

“I think Claude has this kind of gift - he’s been the best player in the team for years but people just don’t notice him, don’t notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélélé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos… You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now.”

That was at the end of the season in 2003. Two years later, Chelsea won the league for the first time in 50 years, and Mourinho named Makelele Chelsea’s player of the year.

Even as a relatively old man now, Makelele amazed me for Chelsea against Liverpool over the weekend. And the closest replication of him playing in the Premiership nowadays is Liverpool’s Mascherano.

I could cut n paste thousands of dim-witted opinions as to Mascherano, but only one opinion counts: mine. And my opinion is: sign him.

Now for a maybe-real interview with the man:

There has been lots of talking about you, but not everybody knows your way of playing, how would you say it’s Masherano as futballer?
I consider myself a centre mid whose main role is the recovery of balls, putting a little aside the creation of game. However I like to touch the ball, I don’t run away from it, but I don’t think my strong ability is the creation of game, I’m more like robbing balls.

You’re saying you’re more like Makelele than than Vieira
Yes, but I don’t like comparations, nor giving names, I like both, but my style is more like Makelele’s, more like a typic ‘#5′, I have clear that my role is recovering balls and make balance, I’m not those kind of players that can get easily to the penalty area from the centre of the field.

Particularly in Argentina there’s a common belief that without a centre mid there’s no way to build a strong team, what do you think about that?
I disagree, I think that a strong team is build based on good players, despite of the position, and I also think that a synchronization between them all is vital.

Did you have Fernando Redondo as reference?
Of course! It incredible the things he did in Madrid, and the things he did from the centre field, he created game from there, and there are few players that can do something similar of what he did, he also opened an school in Madrid, he’s an icon for all Argentinians.

I don’t exactly know who of Skinbyrd readers are week-in/week-out fussball fans…and even if you are, I don’t know if you have the same awe that I do for the holding midfield position. But if you love Liverpool, you need to send letters to the brass to the effect that they sign Mr Javier M.

More to come….I have a lot to say, I just haven’t made a habit of writing for the public yet.

Crystal Palace coming up again this year.