Torres mega-thread

[robslappa]

I wouldn't be too unhappy with £50m plus Anelka.

 

Neither would I.

[stevienando]

OMG!

 

Gerrard seems set to quit Anfield

 

 

Gerrard's career statistics

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard looks set to leave Anfield after his agent said talks over a new deal had broken down and were unlikely to start again.

Gerrard, 25, has two years on his deal and was expected to sign an extension.

 

But agent Struan Marshall told BBC Sport: "Talks have stalled and are unlikely to be re-opened."

 

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry told the Liverpool Echo: "We still hope this situation is repairable. We are completely surprised by the comments."

 

Manager Rafael Benitez, speaking at a news conference on Monday to unveil new signing Bolo Zenden, insisted he wanted Gerrard to remain at Anfield: "We want him to stay with us all his life.

 

However, it appears Gerrard could well now be sold, for as much as £30m, before Liverpool open their defence of the Champions League crown with a qualifier against Welsh side TNS on 13 July.

 

The likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid, who are the two favourites to land the England star, will not want him to play in that game as he would then be ineligible to play for anyone else in the competition.

 

 

Feature:

Where will Gerrard go?

Equally a deal could in theory still be done to keep Gerrard at Anfield, although this seems an increasingly unlikely prospect.

 

The relationship between the club and the captain appears to have started to deteriorate over the weekend, with Gerrard's representatives claiming the club have not placed a high enough priority on the talks.

 

It is said the player's agents put forward a contract which Gerrard would have signed - only to receive no reply from the club.

 

Marshall was not prepared to comment further than confirming negotiations had stopped, but Parry said: "Rafa (Benitez, the Liverpool manager) wants Steven to stay and couldn't have made it any clearer.

 

 

My idea is if I renew my contract after four years I would like Steve to be the next coach ... or if he wanted the next manager

Rafael Benitez

"We have made it clear since January we wanted to talk to Steven about a new contract.

 

"For anyone to make an issue of a delay of just a few days makes no sense. When we met on Wednesday, things were fine.

 

"We have wanted to keep Steven all along. There has never been any suggestion we wanted to sell him.

 

"Money is not an issue. There are no financial concerns regarding Steven's contract so any suggestion to the contrary is wrong."

 

Benitez also insisted the club had done everything in their power to try and persuade Gerrard to stay.

 

 

Zenden admits Benitez factor

"We tried last season three times to talk to Steve about a new deal and he said we need to wait.

 

"This year we have spoken about trophies and we now have the most important one.

 

"We have talked about improving the squad and having the best players. Now we have signed Zenden, perhaps Middlesbrough's best player.

 

"We are signing the best keeper in Spain (Jose Reina), the best winger in Chile (Mark Gonzales) and a young full-back from Seville (Antonio Barragan).

 

"We are improving the team. With all these things I can assure our fans my idea is if I renew my contract after four years I would like Steve to be the next coach, the next assistant manager, the next chief scout or if he wanted the next manager."

 

 

We don't want Gerrard to leave - but him and his advisors are messing my club about

From HX

Have your say on 606

But newspaper reports on Monday claimed the England midfielder had an angry exchange with boss Benitez on the training ground over the weekend.

 

A Liverpool spokesman earlier told BBC Sport: "We will not be commenting on speculation."

 

Gerrard underlined his enthusiasm to stay at Anfield in the aftermath of Liverpool's European triumph over AC Milan in May.

 

He described lifting the trophy as "the best feeling ever" and when questioned about his future added: "How can I think of leaving Liverpool after a night like this?"

 

Last week Spanish reports claimed that Gerrard had admitted to Benitez his interest in a move to Real Madrid, who are said to be willing to more than double his wages to over £8m a year.

 

 

Gerrard did not hint at Real deal

The report in As newspaper also said that Gerrard would not join another Premiership side.

 

That is unlikely to put off Chelsea, who are also known admirers of Gerrard and were thought to be close to signing him last season.

 

Gerrard decided to sign a new deal with Liverpool but rumours about his future have persisted throughout the season.

 

AC Milan may also be interested in Gerrard, while Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is a big fan of the player.

[Pidge]

That's nearly 24hrs old.

 

EDIT : Beaten to it. The shame....

 

Get yourself up to speed for christ's sake!

 

(I hope no one posted this before me...)

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

Brilliant. Ha ha.

[therevivalist]

Fuck the little weasle; I feel stabbed in the back. But 50 m plus Anelka is a good deal. We may even be better off if we get someone fitter who can play most of our games. Torres is a good player but just another opportunist foreign import. LFC under Kenny should from now on build from bottom and forget about our record being broken bla bla...Records, (like promises) are are made to be broken anyway. We'll soon be challenging for honors if we restore the Liverpool way of playing and winning which we're on the way to doing. The redeeming aspect of all this ugly saga is we've got Kenny when we need him most and the future is bright. We've survived the departures of Keagan, Rush, Owen..etc. Well survive this one as well and may well emerge stronger for it. Cheer up fellow Reds.

[gkmacca]

This 'we replaced players before' line: that was when we were top of the fecking league! Don't delude yourselves. Then we picked the best. Now we're not in any position to do so. So stop this nonsense. It's very, very, damaging.

[Josef Svejk]

This 'we replaced players before' line: that was when we were top of the fecking league! Don't delude yourselves. Then we picked the best. Now we're not in any position to do so. So stop this nonsense. It's very, very, damaging.

 

Spot on.

[RobbieOR]

This 'we replaced players before' line: that was when we were top of the fecking league! Don't delude yourselves. Then we picked the best. Now we're not in any position to do so. So stop this nonsense. It's very, very, damaging.

 

Exactly. The last two big players we got rid of we made a shite of replacing them.

[longballs]

Chris Bascombe just posted his NOTW piece

 

"If Chelsea stop faxing gags to Anfield, join the real world and sprinkle dash of Anelka into the mix #LFC will talk"

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

Am I being ultra cynical that the club knew about this well in advance of Thursday? Or is this just pure coincidence?

 

There was that guy on twitter who said that a major player was going to possibly announce he was leaving days in advance of all this transpiring. People were guessing it was Joe Cole.

 

One minute we were fucking around with the Suarez negotiations, the next day we completely overpay for him in a desperate way to get the deal done.

[ThewaytoRome]

I think he will stay.

 

I want him out quick sharpish. Its a crying shame because he is a rolls-royce of a player but he doesnt want to be here. If chelsea bid 45 plus sturidge then so be it.

[aiyic]

He's gone. Get over it. (thank you Rafa...I mean NASA)

[TheDrowningMan]

Am I being ultra cynical that the club knew about this well in advance of Thursday? Or is this just pure coincidence?

 

There was that guy on twitter who said that a major player was going to possibly announce he was leaving days in advance of all this transpiring. People were guessing it was Joe Cole.

 

One minute we were fucking around with the Suarez negotiations, the next day we completely overpay for him in a desperate way to get the deal done.

 

We were never "fucking around" with Suarez, we just wanted the price + conditions to meet our approval. Notice that the fee quoted is an "up to" job. Ajax never once said they wouldn't sell, they didn't report us to FIFA when they could have.

 

There is no way the initial offer was £12.75m cash and no player, nothing else.

[drewy]

Am I being ultra cynical that the club knew about this well in advance of Thursday? Or is this just pure coincidence?

 

There was that guy on twitter who said that a major player was going to possibly announce he was leaving days in advance of all this transpiring. People were guessing it was Joe Cole.

 

One minute we were fucking around with the Suarez negotiations, the next day we completely overpay for him in a desperate way to get the deal done.

 

I think you are being a bit cynical mate, you don't pick up a player of his calibre for £12M.

 

Twitter is fucking bollocks and along with Mongbook the scurge of modern society in my opinion.

[MLB]

I think you are being a bit cynical mate, you don't pick up a player of his calibre for £12M.

 

Twitter is fucking bollocks and along with Mongbook the scurge of modern society in my opinion.

 

 

And yet the journalists who broke the story on twitter were bang on the money...

[ngogswilly]

This 'we replaced players before' line: that was when we were top of the fecking league! Don't delude yourselves. Then we picked the best. Now we're not in any position to do so. So stop this nonsense. It's very, very, damaging.

 

spot on. Far too many people have been living in cloud cookoo lad for too long. Was the same with people sayin its ok to write entire seasons off as if everything exists in the long term. You absolutely have to make sure your house is in order in the short term.

[MLB]

This 'we replaced players before' line: that was when we were top of the fecking league! Don't delude yourselves. Then we picked the best. Now we're not in any position to do so. So stop this nonsense. It's very, very, damaging.

 

 

How is it damaging exactly? Damaging our chances of begging him to stay?

[drewy]

And yet the journalists who broke the story on twitter were bang on the money...

 

Okay 99.9% of twitter is fucking shite, It's a fucking drain on life.

[Anubis]

The only people saying the initial offer for Suarez was £12m plus were the Dutch press. The Skip's inside info was that it was much higher than that - around £17m I think.

[Antynwa]

And yet the journalists who broke the story on twitter were bang on the money...

 

And a few people where gloating in being right.

[aiyic]

Should we put a cheeky bid in for Chelsea's best player who is...? Jesus! I wouldn't take any of them. Well, maybe Ivanovic.

[LFC 6 Times]

Any update on situation since 5pm went out to clear my head

[robslappa]

Should we put a cheeky bid in for Chelsea's best player who is...? Jesus! I wouldn't take any of them. Well, maybe Ivanovic.

 

Honestly?

 

I'd take Cole, Drogba, Essien, Anelka, Malouda and Alex quicker than you can say Titty lip Torres. And from what little I've seen of that youngster Mceachran I'd have him as well.

[Jim MM]

And yet the journalists who broke the story on twitter were bang on the money...

 

Give a million monkeys a million typewriters for long enough and they will eventually produce a newspaper article.

[Jamie-H]

I just did the unthinkable and looked on a chelsea forum to see if they had any extra news to report on the story. They are claiming a deal has been struck tonight for £45m plus Anelka.

 

Some on there seem to think they have seen the best of Anelka and are pleased it is not Sturridge, others dont want Anelka to go.

 

Surprising to read a lot of them dont feel that £45m + Anelka is a good deal for them. They think Fernando's recent form doesnt warrant the amount. Most of them are saying they could get someone better for a cheaper price and due to his recent injury problems he is a big risk.

 

It seems they are very apprenhensive about their apparent new arrival.