Torres mega-thread

[Colonol]

If we are losing Torres there has to be a replacement. For all we know the club knew this was happening well in advance and that a replacement is already been identified and negotiations are on going but we haven't heard about them. if not then we need to bring Anelka here. Although it is not a long term position he will do a great job for us till the end of the season and at least next season. He hasn't lost his pace and is a proven goal scorer. You can't get rid of your most prolific goal scorer and not bring another in. I was watching Anelka yesterday and he was dictating all Chelsea's attacks and was really good. Although it is making the best of a bad situation it would be a wise move to include him in on the deal. Why would anyone not want him here and just go with Ngog and Suarez? It's just wrong.

[Mathewbet1]

50m plus. Kalou?

[18-5]

Fuck that.

 

I don't want Anelka or Kalou here- better take the cash and invest in the summer. Kalou is super shit and is worse than Joe Cole. We are slowly turning into Chelsea rejects FC. :(

[ngogswilly]

Fuck that.

 

I don't want Anelka or Kalou here- better take the cash and invest in the summer. Kalou is super shit and is worse than Joe Cole. We are slowly turning into Chelsea rejects FC. :(

 

truth be told i would agree you except if torres goes we need another striker.

 

but maybe we don't because this season is a write Off. You whos fault that is. Take a fuckin guess. There is a lot of people need to admit they called things wrong but don't have the class to do that

[Mathewbet1]

Ballague says Torres wrote trans request before Suarez deal done, cos he thought we weren't signing anyone. Agent handed it in after...

[Mathewbet1]

Forget the above, another twitter bullshit story apparently.........sigh

[Beantown Red]

Ballague says Torres wrote trans request before Suarez deal done, cos he thought we weren't signing anyone. Agent handed it in after...

 

Yes because in the nearly 7 hours between the release of the statement confirming the agreement with Ajax there was not enough time for Torres to come out and take back the transfer request.

 

edit: nevermind

Edited January 30, 2011 by Beantown Red

[lucozade]

No player at Anfield can ever be bigger than the club, not even Fernando Torres | Mail Online

 

Another perspective.

 

No player at Anfield can ever be bigger than the club, not even Fernando Torres

 

Experienced managers Rafael Benitez, Vicente del Bosque and Roy Hodgson all have one thing in common besides winning major trophies.

 

They have all fallen out with Fernando Torres. Del Bosque, one of the most popular men in the game, was so irritated by El Nino, as Torres is known, that he made him warm up for an hour at the World Cup final before sending him on.

 

Current Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish will probably not have time to fall out with Torres given that the player has demanded a move to Chelsea within the next 48 hours.

 

But maybe the striker's past spats and suspect attitude lies behind Dalglish's acceptance that life will go on at Anfield even if Torres heads south to the King's Road.

 

Nobody has been more supportive of Torres in his short time in charge than Dalglish. The manager was talking up the Spaniard's ability from the moment he took the call from John W Henry on a cruise ship in Bahrain and returned to Anfield as Hodgson's successor until at least the end of the season.

 

Last weekend, after the Spanish World Cup winner grabbed two goals in a 3-0 victory at Wolves, Dalglish said: 'Since I have come in here, he has been nothing short of fantastic in the way he has applied himself in training and on the pitch.'

 

Torres the player is someone Dalglish would dearly love to have at Anfield for the rest of the season and beyond.

 

It is why he went to Holland to scout Luis Suarez, primarily to find Torres his ideal strike partner. But the way Torres handed in a transfer request this week as the transfer deadline closed and Suarez jetted in to complete a £23million move has seriously annoyed Dalglish and others at the club.

 

If Chelsea cough up the right money, there will be no begging, cajoling or more arms around the shoulder for Torres to stay.

 

The old maxim 'No player is bigger than the club' will never be more true.

 

For two years, Torres was the perfect poster boy for Liverpool. He boned up on the club's history before he arrived from Madrid and lived in the heart of Woolton, in south Liverpool, rather than a gated community miles away from the city in Southport or on The Wirrall.

 

Local residents would be charmed to see the superstar No9 walking his dog in local parks, just like other members of the community.

 

But even then the image was somewhat misleading, and in the past 12 months sociable Fernando has increasingly been replaced by surly Fernando, with even the normally diplomatic Jamie Redknapp describing his work-rate as 'diabolical'.

 

One of Torres's team-mates said: 'He has always been a complex character. He is so naturally gifted he's always been totally self-absorbed.

 

'For the first year we'd put his quietness down to a lack of fluent English, but then he'd come out with something word perfect, which made you realise he understood what was going on all the time.

 

 

'It wasn't shyness, more aloofness. And on the pitch he'd definitely play for himself rather than the team. Even the real pros like Stevie Gerrard and Jamie Carragher noticed it but when Torres is on top form you'd forgive him anything.

 

'But his efforts for the team this season under Roy Hodgson made everyone notice. His Prozone stats for some games were laughable for a Premier League striker. He has always been admired by his teammates, but not loved. He hasn't endeared himself in the way that Pepe Reina has, for example.'

Legend: Kenny Dalglish knows what it's like to have the hopes of a football club on your shoulders

 

As a former great striker himself, Dalglish felt that putting his arm around Torres and giving him more support up front would help.

 

Workaholic Dirk Kuyt was detailed to play alongside Torres and do some of his running, and the plan has worked to some extent, with three goals in his last four games. But behind the scenes, Torres was clearly thinking about other clubs and on Thursday dropped his bombshell, following Chelsea's interest.

 

Liverpool suspect the London club gained prior information about Torres's state of mind and with Chelsea under a suspended three-point sentence for 'tapping up' Gael Kakuta, Liverpool may use it as a weapon to ensure Chelsea cough up the right price - £50m.

 

The timing could not have been worse for Liverpool, with Suarez coming into a city that is talking about Torres rather than him.

 

In the short term, Liverpool cannot do much business with the Torres money, maybe put in a new bid for Blackpool's Charlie Adam, try to get Stephen Warnock on loan from Aston Villa and see if Nicolas Anelka will move in the opposite direction to Torres.

 

Former Liverpool player Mark Lawrenson, now a Match Of The Day pundit and a man close to Dalglish, said yesterday: 'Liverpool have only three days to find a replacement. But if Chelsea make a stupid offer, what do you do?'

 

David Ginola put it even more starkly: 'You can't keep an unhappy player. For Torres to say he wanted to be out of the club by Monday is a big surprise for me, it is not respecting the club.'

 

You imagine Dalglish would concur.

 

Torres the player might be extremely hard to replace. But saying farewell to Torres the person may not do the club any long-term harm.

[Josef Svejk]

Experienced managers Rafael Benitez, Vicente del Bosque and Roy Hodgson all have one thing in common besides winning major trophies.

 

Sorry: which major trophy/trophies has Hodgson won?

[lifetime fan]

As others have said we'll get just as much money in the summer, if not more.

 

We also have several months, rather than two days, to line up replacements.

 

If he wants to sulk tough shit. every game he refuses to play thats a fortnights wages we save.

[Moo]

So presumably the people who dont want Anelka weren't particularly bothered about getting a striker/forward in during this window? Happy with Ngog as our only back up i presume?

 

Indeed. We don't need to rush into it in the difficult and over-priced January window.

What if Kenny doesn't stay and the next manager has no interest in Anelka?

[PaulMcC]

We a load bollocks that aloofness article is.

 

Ibet the quotes are made up.

[lifetime fan]

Indeed. We don't need to rush into it in the difficult and over-priced January window.

What if Kenny doesn't stay and the next manager has no interest in Anelka?

 

We just keep Torres and sell him in the summer, we don't have to accept cast offs then.

[Mathewbet1]

Torres is due back in training today?

[Code]

I think he will stay, I doubt Chelsea will offer £50M and to be honest even that is a bit too low for my liking, I would not sell for a penny less than £60M.

 

Its obviously all Rafa`s fault though, had we finsihed in the top 4 last year this would never happened.

[lifetime fan]

I think he will stay, I doubt Chelsea will offer £50M and to be honest even that is a bit too low for my liking, I would not sell for a penny less than £60M.

 

Its obviously all Rafa`s fault though, had we finsihed in the top 4 last year this would never happened.

 

Give it a fucking rest.

[StevieH]

If he goes, this will need changing.

 

[Mathewbet1]

They just stick Suraez's head on it, problem solved.

[StevieH]

They just stick Suraez's head on it, problem solved.

 

Not sure that anyone elses head is as big as Fernando's.

[ThewaytoRome]

It really is a crying shame, but once a player wants to leave he is dead to me. I dont want to see him anywhere near anfield on weds.

 

Thanks for the memories and all that.

[18-5]

Rumours are that he hasn't turned up to training. :(

[Timão]

I think he will stay, I doubt Chelsea will offer £50M and to be honest even that is a bit too low for my liking, I would not sell for a penny less than £60M.

 

Its obviously all Rafa`s fault though, had we finsihed in the top 4 last year this would never happened.

 

Do you not get bored of being this predictable?

 

Get out a bit more, there is a life out there.

[Redzion]

FERNANDO TORRES. Russian for "Mr Abramovich my hamstring's gone again" is "Абрамович, я порвал мой зажать в тиски снов"

[lucozade]

Sorry: which major trophy/trophies has Hodgson won?

 

Just to clarify that is an article from the Daily mail. I did not write that. Perhaps someone at the DM thinks some Swedish Cup is a really really major trophy!

 

I have read multiple times in this thread and others the assertion that FSG must have known about all of this earlier and that perhaps the time they took to do due diligence over Suarez contributed and they are partly at fault.

 

I realise a lot of people are really heart broken over Torres and casting about for anyone and anything else to blame but I thought the article raised a good point when they said - Suarez was bought to partner Torres and as he is the first big signing by FSG an ivestment of more than 20 mill they would have wanted it to be a big deal and to make a big splash.

 

Instead it has hardly registered a blip and to have been so over-shadowed suggests that FSG have been caught on the bounce like the rest of us. As this certainly doesn't suit them.

 

Some of the quotes in the article may be bollocks but then again perhaps we should all take it as gospel it may have come from someone the club uses as a chauffeur!

Edited January 30, 2011 by lucozade

[CWD82]

£40m plus Anelka would do. Add that £40m to whatever funds we have available in the summer and we could get 4 quality players around the £15m - £20m mark which would strengthen us all over the pitch.

 

Nando when on form is the best in the business but even his biggest fans must concede that his injuries and lack of effort has seen him performing way below that standard

 

I fully expect him to go to Chelsea, have a full summers rest (first time in 4 years) and be absolutely superb for them next season.

 

However I think we need a team, not a superstar and we might end up as a better unit overall.

 

Top centreback, top leftback, 2 widemen, a defensive midfielder and another forward are all positions that need strengthening. Maybe the Torres cash will let us do that all in the summer?