Barcelona to launch £70m bid for Liverpool star
Torres
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."
