Chelsea are interested in Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.

The Daily Mail says Chelsea are competing with Barcelona for the Argentina captain.

The stumbling block for Chelsea, however, is that Liverpool do not want to sell to Premier League rivals and accept Mascherano's sale may be the easiest solution to their financial troubles.

The midfielder's availability may spark interest from Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, where Fernando Gago and Mahamoudou Diarra have struggled to make the defensive midfielder's position their own.