Barcelona and Argentina centre-back Javier Mascherano has been slapped with a 1-year jail sentence and a hefty fine following his tax frauds.
Adding to the 1-year Jail sentence, Mascherano has been fined 815,000 Euros. The verdict came as a real shocker given Barcelona’s hold over the Spanish government when it comes to their players walking away with these allegations.
Mascherano was the third player from Barcelona to have been dragged to the court for tax fraud claims following Neymar and Lionel Messi.
As things stand, Messi is to stand trial next week to know the verdict of his case, however, with Mascherano been handed a 1-year jail sentence, we might see an entirely different outcome than initially perceived.
Barcelona are yet to make any statement on Mascherano’s jail sentence, but the former Liverpool star wrote a moving statement for his fans, which read:
‘I am a professional athlete, I have no great knowledge of tax and legal issues.
Therefore, I’m helped by people that handles these issues, which for me are complex.
Throughout my career I was an honest and responsible person, respecting my colleagues, the clubs I represent and the countries in which I lived.
‘This situation I’m going through is another experience, from which I will come out stronger, and very calm as I am once again within the law.
‘I reserve the possibility of action against those who advised me badly by recommending me something which was not right.’
Mascherano is not new to the controversies, back when he was with West Ham, he found himself involved in an illegal signing row which nearly got West Ham relegated despite avoiding the drop on last day of the season.
Carlos Tevez scored the all-important winner against Manchester United and West Ham managed to survive.
Following year, Mascherano moved to Liverpool and went on to have a very successful stint at Anfield along with Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.
