In contrast, despite his own career being revived at Anfield following his West Ham nightmare,  Mascherano has just reached the end of a campaign with Liverpool for the third time without any  silverware.

The £18.6million signing had cast doubt over his Liverpool future in recent weeks with  Barcelona’s great rivals Real Madrid monitoring the situation of both himself and midfield partner  Xabi Alonso but Mascherano is now insisting that he is settled on Merseyside and he hopes to  be reunited with international team-mate Tevez.

Tevez’s loan at Manchester United has now come to an end and the striker looks set to leave  the club.

No player has moved directly from Old Trafford to Anfield since Phil Chisnall in 1964 although  another Argentinian Gabriel Heinze came close in 2007 but Ferguson blocked any deal with the  defender eventually joining Real Madrid.

Despite the controversial nature of any potential move down the M62, Mascherano believes  Tevez could prove a hit at Anfield.

He said: “I hope we can count on him. Because of the type of player Carlos is, he would be  great for us.

“However, it will be a tough fight because so many clubs are interested in him.”

Meanwhile, Benitez has revealed how Sami Hyypia’s departure this summer could open the  first-team door for one of the club’s young defenders. 

England youth international Martin Kelly and Spanish U21 Mikel San Jose are among a clutch  of budding centre-backs waiting in the wings. 

While Benitez is refusing to rule out adding to his defensive ranks this summer, the Spaniard  is set to include several youngsters in his pre-season plans. 

He said: “We will see the young players in pre-season and we can work on different scenarios.  “We will see all of them and after decide. They are young players with a great future here. 

“It depends on them and also it depends on whether we can find someone in the market who  can be good for us at the right price.”