Liverpool have finally agreed a fee with Barcelona for Javier Mascherano.

The Reds confirmed a deal has been done on their website.

Liverpool have refused to disclose the amount, but it is believed to be in the region of £18million with another £4million in add-ons.

Mascherano has been given formal permission to speak to the Catalans and personal terms are expected to be a formality.

Liverpool agree £18m fee with Barca for Mascherano

Liverpool have finally agreed a fee with Barcelona for Javier Mascherano.

The Reds confirmed a deal has been done on their website.

Liverpool have refused to disclose the amount, but it is believed to be in the region of £18million with another £4million in add-ons.

Mascherano has been given formal permission to speak to the Catalans and personal terms are expected to be a formality.
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Barcelona have already indicated they are prepared to pay the Argentina skipper £85,000-a-week.

Barca have beaten Inter Milan to sign Mascherano and the Reds were not interested in dealing with the Italians when they would only offer £6million plus Sulley Muntari.

Although he will be sad to lose a player of Mascherano's class, Roy Hodgson will be glad the summer-long saga is over.

He will use the money to strengthen his squad and has agreed a £3million fee with Fulham for Paul Konchesky.

Fulham will not complete the deal until they have brought in Carlos Salcido from PSV Eindhoven to replace Konchesky.

Liverpool will be among the top seeds when the draw for the Group Stage of the Europa League takes place in Monaco at 12pm BST.

The Reds have been ranked second amongst the 48 teams bidding for glory and will therefore be drawn from pot one of four.

This means they will avoid the likes of Atletico Madrid, FC Porto and Juventus but could take on Dynamo Kiev, Bayer Leverkusen or Anderlecht.

However, Roy Hodgson's side won't have to face a potential showdown with Roberto Mancini's Manchester City courtesy of the country protection rule.

Matchday One of the group stage will take place on September 16.

The line-up in full:

Pot One: Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Sevilla, FC Porto, Villarreal, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Zenit St Petersburg, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, VFB Stuttgart, AZ Alkmaar.

Pot Two: Steaua Bucharest, Lille, Dynamo Kiev, Anderlecht, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris St Germain, Club Brugge, Palermo, Getafe, Besiktas, Manchester City, Sampdoria.

Pot Three: Sparta Prague, AEK Athens, Levski Sofia, Rosenborg, Salzburg, CSKA Sofia, Odense BK, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Zagreb, FC Bate, FC Metalist Kharkviv.

Pot Four: Aris Thessaloniki FC, Rapid Vienna, PAOK, Lech Poznan, FC Karpatv Lviv, Young Boys, Utrecht, Gent, Lausanne, FC Sheriff, Debrecen, Hajduk Split.