Pain game: Torres has suffered a difficult season
after returning injured from World Cup
Chelsea have made a stunning £35million offer for
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, only to see it flatly
rejected.
A Liverpool spokesman confirmed: 'Chelsea have made a bid
for Fernando, which has been turned down. The player is not for
sale.'
However, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will not be
deterred and is expected to return with an increased offer for the
26-year-old, who had a £50m get-out clause written into his Anfield
contract last summer.
The Barclays Premier League champions have been admirers
of Torres for many years and have now made a move to try to get
their title bid back on track.
Abramovich has been disappointed by the slump in form
endured by Carlo Ancelotti's team this season and, with Didier
Drogba turning 33 in March, feels it is now time to splash out on a
new star striker at Stamford Bridge.
Transfer talk: Liverpool insist striker Fernando
Torres is not for sale
Liverpool's owners, the Fenway Sports Group, are
said to be determined to fend off Chelsea's interest and keep hold
of the Spain World Cup winner, who arrived at Anfield from Atletico
Madrid for £21m in the summer of 2007.
Torres has suffered a difficult season after returning
injured from Spain's World Cup campaign in South Africa last
summer.
However, the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as manager
following the departure of Roy Hodgson appears to have lifted the
striker, who has shown his prolific form of old in recent weeks,
scoring three goals in four matches.
Chelsea will have to move quickly if they want to tie up a
deal for Torres before the transfer window closes at 11pm on
Monday, but it will take a huge offer to persuade Liverpool
chairman John W Henry to sanction the sale.
Henry will be wary of a backlash from the Anfield faithful
should they lose their talisman, while the likes of skipper Steven
Gerrard would also see his departure as a sign that the club lacks
ambition, and may even force him to consider his own
future.
Torres's contract, which runs until the summer of 2013, is
worth £110,000 a week but Chelsea could easily double
that.
