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Mark Noble says he was amazed by Mascherano at West Ham
Mark Noble has told that Javier Mascherano was unbelievable in training while he was with West Ham, leaving the future Hammers captain wondering how he was playing ahead of the Argentinian.
Mascherano’s time at Upton Park is one of the most bizarre spells in Premier League history. Everyone was aware what a huge boost it was for the Irons to sign the midfielder along with Carlos Tevez in 2006.
Ultimately, Tevez played a vital role in West Ham staying in the top-flight that season. He went on an amazing run during the latter stages of the campaign when the Irons looked doomed.
However, by that stage, Mascherano had already left the club. The 38-year-old did not enjoy anything like the same success as his countryman.
In fact, he left for Liverpool after playing only seven times for West Ham. Nevertheless, Mascherano went on to make a massive impression on Noble, who contributed to keeping him out of the team.
“When Carlos signed with Mascherano, and I came back off loan, I started training with them. And Mascherano found it harder to adapt than Carlos obviously. I was playing week-in, week-out. You had to see this guy in training, Javier. He was unbelievable,” .
“We started winning. And we kept winning and winning, the gaffer didn’t even need to change the team and we stayed up. But seeing Javier in training, I used to go out everyday and think how am I playing in front of this geezer? I don’t know. Because he was unbelievable. He was unreal.”
Of course, we should not be at all surprised to hear Noble’s comments on Mascherano. He went on to have an amazing career.
He was outstanding at Liverpool. But it was at Barcelona – and after being converted to a centre-back – where Mascherano went to another level.
He went on to make more than 330 appearances for the Catalan giants. In that time, he won five league titles and two Champions Leagues. And there were many other honours along the way.
Mascherano also finished his career with 147 appearances for Argentina under his belt. He started the 2014 World Cup final.
Obviously, West Ham fans will be under no illusions that he would not have stayed for long had it worked out for him at the Boleyn Ground. But they may wonder what could have been had it clicked.