Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has set his sights on winning the Olympic Games and the Premier League after confirming he will travel to Beijing.

The 24-year-old has accepted his call-up as an over-age player to Argentina's Under 23 squad for August's Games and will fly to China after the Reds' pre-season friendly with Hertha Berlin on Tuesday.

Mascherano will, therefore, miss Liverpool's opening Premier League fixtures with Sunderland and Middlesbrough, but he is hopeful his team-mates will have made a bright start when he returns.

Having won the Olympics in 2004, Mascherano is eager to secure another gold medal and the Premier League trophy this season.

"I will go to the Olympics," Mascherano told the Liverpool Echo. "I will leave the team for one month.

"Hopefully I will go to Beijing and win the gold medal for my country and come back and win the title with Liverpool.

"It was important for me to do the pre-season with the team so I can get to know my new team-mates before I go to the Olympics.

"We are all working hard and hopefully the work we are doing now will help us to have a good season and we will try to win some trophies.

"It isn't easy because we are doing two training sessions a day and we are working very hard.

"But as the days go by we are having more and more contact with the ball and when the new season arrives I think we will be ready for the Premier League."