Soccer:Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson fears that he will be unable to persuade Javier Mascherano he has a future at Anfield if the club receive a realistic offer.
The Argentina captain has told the Merseyside outfit's hierarchy that he wants to end his stay, as speculation suggests his family have become unhappy in England.
Mascherano, who was linked with Barcelona last summer, is himself thought to want to leave in order to follow former manager Rafa Benitez to Inter Milan.
Hodgson played a part in Fernando Torres' recent decision to confirm his commitment to Liverpool by visiting the Chelsea and Manchester City target during his post-World Cup holiday.
But the Reds' new boss, who succeeded Benitez at the beginning of July, does not believe that he will be as effective in influencing Mascherano, telling a press conference: "I think that will be slightly more difficult.
"If a big offer comes in for him and it is a club that he wants to go to, I think that will be harder.
"But the good thing for me at the moment is that we haven't had that offer and as a result I can continue to work with him and deal with him as a Liverpool player and consider him as a Liverpool player and just wait for the day, if the day comes, when the offer comes in.
"Then maybe if the offer comes in and it was the offer that meets our valuation and he wants to go, then I don't know that my powers of persuasion will be much good in that situation.
"But maybe they will never be needed because we might not get the offer and he might stay with us."
Hodgson has praised Torres for his loyalty to the club after the 26-year-old announced he wanted to stay, but the manager knows a giant bid could rock the boat.
Both Chelsea and Manchester City were rumoured to be considering a British transfer record bid for Torres in the €75 million region.
Hodgson knows a player of Torres' quality will always attract attention but he is thinking only of what the player can offer him in the coming campaign.
"The important thing for Fernando and for us is that we have a good season - he as a player, us as a club and me as a manager," said the manager. "Who knows what next season will bring? We could have a fantastic season and the players will not want to go anywhere or we could have a worse one and there will be more speculation.
"It could be he does so fantastically well and an offer comes in like the offer came in for Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo (€70 million and €94 million respectively - both from Real Madrid) which is impossible to turn down.
"But we will take that problem when and if it arises but the important thing is it hasn't arisen this summer because he is going to be playing for us.
"He is committed to playing for us and he is going to honour his contract and it is good for me he has made it clear he likes the club and the fans.
"It is nice now the speculation can finally end once and for all after Fernando made it clear how absolutely committed he is."
Amid all the rumours Hodgson, three weeks into his reign, flew out to see Torres while he was on holiday.
The player said he had been impressed by his new manager but Hodgson admits there were times when he feared he would lose Torres or Steven Gerrard, who was linked to Real before he committed his future to the club.
"I hate bland statements saying 'Don't worry, everything will be rosy' when you know the world of football and what we are up against," he added. "I know the battles that have to be fought sometimes to get things right and I was anxious not to make any false promises.
"But it is a much nicer feeling today with all these players still with us with the possibility to bring in one or two new faces."