Real Madrid to pay £8M for River Plate's Mascherano

Real Madrid will cough up over £8 million for River Plate midfielder Javier Mascherano in January.

Its reported that Mascherano has signed a pre-contract with Deportivo La Coruna, but the agreement includes a clause that if Real were to make a bid for him, then Depor will not stand in the youngster's way.

Mascherano is expected to break his silence this morning over the speculation.

River and the player would rather keep everything under wraps so as not to upset supporters, but the pressure from the Argentine press has forced Mascherano to come clean on his future.