Agent: Torres Could Leave Liverpool

Torres: Looking for greener pastures?

Spain and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres’ agent, Jose Anotonio Martin, has hinted that the player will leave Liverpool after the World Cup.

“It is very likely that Fernando Torres will stay in the Premier League, but I cannot say that it will be with Liverpool,” he told the Daily Mail.

“We are working on his future but right now you cannot guarantee that he will stay with the English club.”

Though how appealing the striker will be to top clubs, given his none-too impressive form in the ongoing World Cup, remains to be seen. Among Premier League clubs, Chelsea and Manchester City have been linked to the striker off and on, with other clubs backing down from the player’s wage demands of 100,000 pounds a week.

Liverpool, who underwent a managerial change earlier in the summer, are presently in a fix. Having finished seventh in the Premier League and out of Champions League competition this season, the fans vented out their anger at the former manager Rafa Benitez and the club owners. Eventually, Benitez moved on to the European champions Inter Milan, and Roy Hodgson was brought in to handle matters at the club.

Benitez has made no secret of the fact that he is very interested in getting Mascherano and Kuyt to his new club in Milan. Also, rumors have been ringing linking influential captain Steven Gerrard to Real Madrid, where Jose Mourinho will set about building a trophy-winning squad. Yossi Benayoun has already left for Chelsea.

Among the players left, only Agger, Torres and Reina are what pundits are considering to be world class material.

Torres had a forgettable season, plagued by injuries, and seemed unhappy with several decisions that Benitez made. He has also not exactly shown his attacking prowess so far at the World Cup. In fact, Spain looked a much better team once he was substituted for Cesc Fabregas.

With Hodgson intent on building a squad from the ground up, and bringing back some much needed team chemistry, Torres will have to resign himself to the fact that should he stay at Liverpool, he could be in for another season without silverware, especially considering that the Europa league also has Manchester City, who at present, look much better off on paper than Liverpool. And with Hodgson going to put more emphasis on the youth development of English players, it might be time for Torres to ply his trade elsewhere.

Football Transfers - The Summer So Far...

It's only mid-July, and what a summer we've had already! The footballing fraternity has been left spell-bound by the massive shuffling of players' alliances. In my previous post related to football, I gave an overview about the world-record transfer of Portugese mid-fielder Christiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. But apart from Real, even Manchester City has been turning quite a few heads with it's spending spree.

When Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea, he spent 128 million pounds in his first thre transfer windows. Manchester City, since the Abu Dhabi takeover, have spent 144 million pounds, and are willing to dig even deeper!! o.0


Here's a look at the ManCity signings since the takeover.

1. Pablo Zabaleta, Argentine u-20 captain, from Espanyol, in 2008 for 6.45 million pounds.

2. Robinho, Brazilian, from Real Madrid, in 2008, for 32.5 million pounds.

3. Wayne Bridge, English, from Chelsea, in January 2009, for 10 million pounds.

4. Craig Bellamy, Welsh, from West Ham United, in January 2009, for 14 million pounds.

5. Nigel de Jong, Dutch, from Hamburg, in January 2009, for 18 million pounds.

6. Shay Given, Irish, from Newcastle United, in February 2009, for 8 million pounds.

7. Gareth Barry, English, from Aston Villa, in June 2009, for 12 million pounds.

8. Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguan, from Blackburn Rovers, in June 2009, for 18 million pounds.

9. Carlos Tevez, Argentine, from Manchester United, in July 2009, for 25 million pounds.

Of these, Robinho's and now Tevez's signings have been much publicized, especially considering the Tevez moved to City From bitter city rivals United. Moreover, ManCity are now rumoured to be keeping an eye out for Xabi Alonso of Liverpool!

In the next post, I'll look at Real Madrid's signings this summer. It is even more hair raising!! They crossed 200 million this summer alone, with Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema being the top transfers. Manager Perez has guaranteed at least two more high-profile signings as he looks to revamp the Real outlook.