Javier Mascherano Remains Pivotal to Barcelona's Push for Honours

They call him the "Jefecito." The little boss. It's a good nickname, a fitting one. Because if Luis Enrique is the big boss, then Javier Mascherano is his voice on the field.

He doesn’t wear the armband, unless Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets are all out of action. But he doesn’t need one either. Mascherano is a de facto leader at the club, and his personality and influence have been one of the keys to the club’s success over the past few years.

At the end of July, he ended the long-running doubts over his future by agreeing a new three-year deal with the club. And that is good news for Barcelona.

The last memory most fans will have of Mascherano in a Barcelona shirt is him flailing in the Copa del Rey final against Sevilla, caught short by Kevin Gameiro's pace.

Mascherano pulled the French forward down as he raced in on goal and picked up a deserved red card, leaving Barcelona with a one-man disadvantage for most of the game. They eventually won 2-0 after extra time, but Mascherano still looked upset and angry with himself after the game, while others celebrated.

That's what sort of character he has. A man who, if he makes a mistake, will do his utmost never to make the same one again.

Unfortunately, he's never been the fastest player in the team, and at 32 he is going to be exposed by nippy players like Gameiro now and again.

That issue reared its head in pre-season, too, with Mascherano caught adrift against both Leicester City and Liverpool at times.

However, the veteran has demonstrated on many occasions that he can save the team when all hope seems lost.

Few tackle with such conviction and power in high-pressure moments, with Mascherano willing to risk life and limb for his team, and more. Quite literally, in fact, during the 2014 World Cup, when playing for Argentina. In the semi-final clash against Holland, Mascherano made a vital intervention in the final minute of the game, sliding in to dispossess Arjen Robben and protect Argentina’s goal. In the process, he tore his anus.

“I thought I had slipped, I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I tore my anus on that move, the pain...it was terrible,” he said, per the Independent. "I threw myself into it. I could have been sent off. It could have been a penalty but anyone could have done that, I had the luck to get there."

He calls it luck, but if that’s all it was, it wouldn’t happen so damn often.

Another key Mascherano tackle was his brilliant intervention to deny Nicklas Bendtner against Arsenal in the Champions League in March 2011.

In an interview with the Guardian, he explained how that moment changed the path of his career. And millions of Barcelona fans can be forever grateful. Not just for a tackle that kept his team in the competition, which they went on to win, but because it made Mascherano. Or at least, it was the start of his making. He said:

Honestly. After five, six months I thought it was unlikely I’d be here long. My characteristics seemed to go against everything Barcelona stood for. That moment marked me. If Bendtner had controlled the ball and gone the other way, he’d have got away from me and... uffff! ... I don’t know what would’ve happened. But it happened the way it happened and we ended up winning that Champions League. Things worked out well.

Mascherano's versatility is also a useful tool for Luis Enrique.

Despite having played at centre-back for many years now at Barcelona, his natural position is in defensive midfield.

With Sergi Samper set to be sent on loan to Valencia, per Sport, Mascherano may be needed to fill in for Sergio Busquets at the base of Barcelona’s midfield trio, should anything unfortunate befall the Spaniard.

Sergi Roberto has also been used there and fits the Barcelona mould better in that position, but there’s glee to be obtained from watching Mascherano charge around as a destroyer.

Barcelona fans aren’t keen on it, but occasionally Luis Enrique has used Mascherano in midfield with Busquets as part of a double pivot, although it hasn’t always led to great success.

In general, the Jefecito is one of the more underrated Barcelona players. He does make the occasional error, but he has saved the team on countless more occasions.

Mascherano does not do a glamorous job, but he’s the one relaying the instructions and geeing up the team. Alongside Gerard Pique, with whom he has formed a stable partnership, Barcelona have a lot of leadership at their core.

And with 22-year-old centre-back Samuel Umtiti’s arrival, Mascherano could be just as vital in the dressing room as he is on the pitch for the club.

As he gets older, he will feature less, as is natural—we’ve seen how Luis Enrique has managed Andres Iniesta’s minutes carefully—and the Asturian coach will want to give the young Frenchman opportunities, as he could be the club’s future defensive lynchpin.

With Mascherano signed up for three more years and Pique in the form of his life, Umtiti cannot ask for any better team-mates to learn from.

There was a chance Barcelona could have lost Mascherano heading into this season, though. He was linked with a move to Juventus by Sport’s Gerard Romero, where his friend and former team-mate in Blaugrana, Dani Alves, arrived in the summer. He explained:

The 31-year-old [he turned 32 in June], who this season has been like a captain, has spent time assessing the possibility of leaving Barca for an improved contract, which could be the last big one of his sporting career. For now, the agreement is only between Mascherano and Juventus. The clubs still have to negotiate.

Sources at FC Barcelona have assured Sport that they have no intention of selling Javier Mascherano at the moment, a player who is considered a key part of Luis Enrique's project.

Evidently, the club’s determination to keep him took its effect. Sporting director Robert Fernandez flew to the United States to speak to him during the Copa America Centenario to keep him onside, according to Sport’s Lluis Miguelsanz, as the player had become increasingly fed up with "false promises of renewals."

And now the matter has been dealt with, Barcelona can turn to his energy and passion on the pitch, and his determination off it, to drive them on in their never-ending quest for silverware.