Liverpool are bracing themselves for an incredible £70million bid for Fernando Torres by Barcelona.
The Spanish champions signed Torres’ Spanish strike partner David Villa yesterday, and expect to add Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas in the next couple of weeks.
Then, with a new president in charge at the Nou Camp after the World Cup, Torres will be the No 1 target.
Torres himself has made no secret of his frustration at the lack of progress with Liverpool in recent seasons, and the fact that they won’t even have Champions’ League football next season.
He has yet to win a single trophy in his three years at Anfield, and seems further away than ever from realising his ambition of adding to the European Championship trophy he won with Spain, which remains the only honour in his career.
At 26, Torres knows time is running out, and he has also had a difficult relationship with his manager Rafa Benitez over the past season.
There have already been subtle overtures from Barcelona, and they have not yet been discouraged by Torres who is also a target for Chelsea.
The news that Villa joined moved to the Nou Camp for £35million from Valencia yesterday will come as little comfort to the Liverpool board, who are desperate to keep their iconic player.
Both Villa and Fabregas have been pursued by the current president Joan Laporta, who sees the two stars as his highly priced legacy to the club, as his term of office expires in June.
He will spend upwards of £70million on the pair, and under normal circumstances, such a massive outlay would be enough for Barca, who have never been as extravagant in the transfer market as their great rivals Real Madrid.
But incoming president Sandro Rosell - who is close to current manager Pep Guardiola - wants to bring his own marquee signing into the club as a spectacular start to his own regime, and Torres fits that bill.
He and Villa have formed a devastating partnership for Spain, and Rosell knows that reproducing the same pairing in the Nou Camp will create massive excitement for the fans.
So far, there have only been tentative enquiries, but there is a feeling at Anfield that a similar scenario that Arsenal are experiencing with Fabregas will hit them and Torres next.
Manager Rafa Benitez insisted yesterday that he hasn’t heard of any desire from the striker to leave, but privately, he has spoken of his fear of the star striker leaving, and he conceded that Torres will undoubtedly look at his position at Liverpool.
Speaking in Spain yesterday, he said: “I have no evidence he wants to go. At the moment he is concentrating on his recuperation, winning the World Cup and after that he will think about his future.”
Rosell will be in position as the new president of Barca by the end of the World Cup, and he could have raised more funds to pursue Torres by then, by offloading last summer’s big money signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, along with former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.
While Benitez remains uncertain about what Torres will do, he reiterated the fact, yesterday, that he has four years on his own contract at Anfield, and so far remains intent on staying at the club.
“My future is Liverpool. I have four more years of contract and I want to complete them. I have received no offers. I hope to make this team competitive again.”
Source: Mirror Football
My first thoughts are: **** off! you've just signed David Villa, you don't need him.
My second is yeah, if you give us Ibra. Bojan, Busquets AND the £70 Million
no. seriously. why the **** do they need him!?
the only worrying thing is,
that he's gunna be spending the next few weeks with Spain for the world cup.
so that means half the Barca squad can convince him to join them,
as they no doubt will with Fabregas.
anyway, your thoughts?
