• Striker declines to reiterate comments on Liverpool
from agent
• 'My future is the World Cup and after we'll see' says
Spaniard
Spain's Fernando Torres declined to back up his
agent's words that he would definitely be at Liverpool next season.
Photograph: Victor R Caivano/AP
Fernando Torres
cast doubt on his Liverpool
future tonight when he passed up the opportunity to commit
himself to the club. He said he had not read remarks made by one of
his representatives in which supporters were reassured that the
Spaniard would continue at Anfield. The striker also hinted at the
extent to which his decision depends on the financial and
institutional future of the club by revealing that he has
maintained regular contact with the club's chief executive,
Christian Purslow, and manager, Rafael Benítez.
Torres's remarks come amid speculation over his future following
a deeply disappointing season for Liverpool and the Guardian
understands the 26-year-old has sought reassurance before
committing his future. Liverpool's institutional crisis while the
club look for a buyer means any definitive decision remains on hold
but Torres has not ruled out a departure.
The comments also followed former Liverpool chairman David
Moores' appeal in a letter to the Times for the current owners to
"stand aside" and sell up for the good of the club. Liverpool's
estimated debt is £394m, of which £185m was incurred to finance the
takeover by Gillett and Hicks.
It had appeared that Torres would continue at Anfield after the
reassurances of José Antonio Petún on Spanish radio last night.
Petún, who is the chairman of Bahía International, the company that
represents Torres, said: "For the moment I can assure fans that
Fernando will continue at Liverpool next season. Everything is down
to Liverpool's attitude but, for the time being, Fernando is happy
at the club and has a good contract. Liverpool have not spoken to
us about his future, so he is just concentrating on playing at the
World Cup."
But asked about Petún's comments and his future today, Torres
said simply: "I didn't read anything. My future is the World Cup
and after we will see. But my future now and hopefully for the next
two months is Spain and the World Cup."
He added: "I don't know [if the departure of Gillett and Hicks
would help the club improve]. Hopefully. It is one of the [things]
that we need in order to improve. I know what the situation of the
club is. I talk to the chief executive [Purslow] and Rafa [Benítez]
every week and I am aware about the situation. I do not know what
the situation is right now because I am trying to stay apart from
that and be focused on the national team. When the World Cup ends
we'll see what happens."
Torres, who has been a constant defender of Benítez, has
previously made it clear that Liverpool need investment, in
comments that appeared to be a veiled threat towards Gillett and
Hicks to back the coach with investment. In January, with
Liverpool's season unravelling, he told FourFourTwo magazine: "It's
now the owners' turn: they have to sign players so that this does
not happen again. If we want to compete with [Manchester] United
and Chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad, we need more
genuinely first-class players and we can't let our best players
leave."
In March Torres made similar remarks, insisting: "Without
reinforcements we will be battling for fourth place – and I want to
be competing for the league."
