http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...o-Torres-summer-target-Liverpool-reunion.html After storming down the tunnel at Loftus Road on Saturday, Fernando Torres found little to smile about at Chelsea's training ground on Monday. The £50million striker is retreating into his shell again, making his displeasure known after he was substituted nine minutes from time against QPR. Torres expects to start against Juventus on Wednesday night as Chelsea begin the defence of the Champions League, but his confusing body language is cause for concern. At times he has hankered after a return to Liverpool, the club who converted him from lethal finisher to world-class forward after his move from Atletico Madrid in 2007. Had Damien Comolli, Liverpool's former director of footballer strategy, got his way it could easily have happened after he explored the extraordinary possibility of re-signing the striker. In February this year, Comolli was stunned when a prominent member of the Liverpool dressing room knocked on the door to his office and pleaded with him to investigate the proposition. Torres had been sold by Liverpool a year earlier, taking a pay cut to sign for Chelsea on a five-year deal, but had struggled to settle into his rhythm. Carlo Ancelotti, the manager when Torres arrived, had been fired after Chelsea's failure to defend the Premier League or win the European Cup. Last season, between October 19 and March 18, the striker went five months - or 25 hours and 40 minutes - without scoring. Andre Villas-Boas, sacked during the barren run, even moved Juan Mata's peg in the Chelsea dressing room to help the Spanish pair settle in. Nothing appeared to click. At Liverpool, Comolli considered whether to put forward the unthinkable when he flew to Florida to discuss the summer transfer targets with Liverpool's owners John W Henry and Tom Werner. Liverpool's players were used to Torres' ways, ducking out of social nights and rounds of golf with his team-mates and Torres had been a cult figure at Anfield, scoring 65 goals in 102 appearances in the Barclays Premier League. It was a mouth-watering prospect for Comolli as he sifted through the statistics. The 28-year-old scored 81 goals on Merseyside, with 56 of them resulting from a defence-splitting pass. The Liverpool way suited the Spain striker and at least one player in that dressing room said Luis Suarez would benefit if they could be paired together. The Uruguayan had been signed in January 2011 as a second striker and Comolli knew he would not be able to match his incredible goalscoring ratio in the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax. Comolli worked on his own rule of thumb that, with the exception of Ruud van Nistelrooy, strikers imported from Holland only score around a third of the goals in the Premier League. Suarez scored 81 times in 110 appearances at Ajax; he has 17 in 48 appearances in the Premier League. Dirk Kuyt scored 71 times in 98 appearances for Feyenoord; at Anfield, he scored 51 goals in 208 appearances. So Comolli was excited about the prospect of re-signing Torres, but it was a transfer fraught with difficulties.He expected the fee to be prohibitive and that Roman Abramovich would be an unwilling seller. Comolli did not get the chance to pursue it, after he was fired without warning by Werner and Henry on April 12 this year, two days before the FA Cup semi-final with Everton. Two weeks later, Torres scored against Barcelona in injury time of the Champions League semi-final to put Chelsea through to face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. After winning the Champions League final, Torres claimed: 'I have been through the worst moments of my career during the season. 'I felt they treated me in a way I was not expecting.' Despite his side being linked with Atletico striker Falcao, this term Torres is the focal point of Chelsea's attack, the main striker in a system designed specifically for his assets. He has scored twice in the Premier League this season, but Roberto Di Matteo's system has some mild teething problems. Wednesday evening, against a resurgent Juventus, is the right time to administer some painkillers. ------------------------------------------ What does everyone think about this? Would you welcome Torres back? At 28, is he a 'FSG type' signing?
Not a chance, what we need is a younger hungrier version. He's like Michael Owen, he's had a few injuries and he has lost half a yard of that explosive pace. Again like Owen, he's not clever enough to reinvent himself in the same way Ian Rush did. When Ian Rush lost half a yard of pace, he actually became a better player. Torres and Owen are more like Gary Lineker..one trick ponies.
serious comment time: THIS IS NOTHING BUT A STIRRING ARTICLE BY THE DAILY MAIL. Simply put they have an agenda, if comolli works for LFC he's terrible and useless and you should sack him... when you sack him then we start making **** up to make your owners look ridiculaous for sacking him. "commolli wanted torres" total bullshit. This is just this paper stirring, they want to make out that comolli would never have left us without a froward yet convienently forget the carroll debalce was on his watch, he left us without suarez for 8 matches for being a gob and also played a big part in downing and adam as well... all in all the daily fail just have an agenda to pick and pick at whatever they can to make whomever is in charge at anfield look weak..
I agree with MITO, this is merely a space-filler. Everything in it is un-attributable. He certainly did not get the 'story' from Comolli who's handshake would have included a very large 'stumm' clause (as would Kenny's). The thought process is very obvious: Torres not happy Liverpool with no striker etc. etc. Now I don't know if it is just The Mail that appear to have a vendetta against LFC. Perhaps I'm paranoid but I rarely see any favourable comments about us across the media.
Got to laugh at the 'thanks but no thanks' lines, lads. Seriously, we're in no position to be picky and Torres would still walk into our first XI. If we got him for 20mil (with Carroll to west ham for around the same) then that would be good business. he's not been happy since he left lfc, it won't be long before he says he regrets the move - a statement I'm sure he will come out with after his Chelsea career.
Liverpool was a different club then, I do honestly believe Torres regretted his move in the following season but doubt he would come back now to be totally honest, we had a host of spanish players and a spanish manager. Now it is a totally different picture. The most logical move for Torres right now is Atletico Madrid. He should get out of chavsky asap and go back to spain. The guy has depression issues, that much is obvious
He's on his way back to Spain thats for sure. I don't know what it is, but Manchester City will have it in about 3 years with Silva, and Chelsea will have it with Mata. Liverpool had it with Alonso, Garcia and Arbeloa. It must depend on the personality. Rafa Benitez calls Liverpool home moreso than Madrid, and Pepe Reina is an adopted scouser. He wants to stay put until he reaches his mid 30s. This is unusual for a Spaniard.
I think this depends on whether you think with your head or your heart. People love to dream and would love the idea of re-signing the old Torres who bags two goals every three games. However, the reality is that the slump that Torres has faced actually started well before he left Liverpool. IMO and like most others it appears, it would be a crazy move that would see us waste more money. However, given our current situation with strikers, I would have regrettably taken Owen on a free so I guess Torres would be good for us right now too. It would be a expensive short term solution to paper over a crack or two. We are a different club playing a different style now too
I would rather we found someone younger who is hungry to score, Torres always seems to get pissy when defenders are covering him then he eventually gives up and throws a strop.
Depends on the price. As said above- for £20mill might be worth a gamble- he was good before.... any more than that not so.
£20m is a massive gamble. Don't let the £50m we got for him effect your view. I'd say anything over £12m would be a gamble and I would want to see us pay any more than that. Chelsea will never sell him for less than £20m so...
That slump was as a result of Roy's negative tactics which did not suit Torres. It left him isolated and I believe it made him more look lazy and disinterested than he actually was. You may call it a coincidence but he scored 2 in 3 games when Kenny took over. I think £20m is a lot for him - injury prone (although he seems to be ok now), will be 29 next year, lost his sharpness and pace. I Think £15m could be half decent but no more than. Plus, if we had Rafa in charge, then I would have more faith that we could recapture his best form.
No thanks, he might be better than what we have, but he isn't that great anymore and will only decline further.
£20 million, no way. Thats what we paid for him in the first place. We should look to humiliate Chelsea by making them accept no more than £10 million were we to re-sign him.
I agree his pace isn't what it was but the biggest impact is the decreased acceleration, it was this that got him the chances since we played with a high and often gained possession high up the pitch. His acceleration also gave him the space to get a shot away whether he was already in the area or not.
They said the same about Rafa. And yet here we are with Rafa's players still here and forming over half the first XI. Kinda like Spurs, really. Comolli's rep took a big hit over "waste of money" Carroll, who turned into "Why isn't Hodgson playing Carroll instead of that waste of a shirt, Rooney?" He brought us Suarez. He got Adam at a time when every pundit and her sister were jacking off over Blackpool with Adam at its heart; Enrique looked great for half a season, then like the rest of it fell of a cliff; Henderson has as much potential as Joe Allen but with more skills. There were good reasons to sign Downing, too. We hadn't had a proper left winger since God knows when. You can't say Downing was any worse than Bambi Babel. But no manager gets 100% success rate. The best get about 50% and not every player works out in their first season, as Jan Molby reminded fans recently with his disastrous first season in red. But sure, Comolli's a dreamer. So just like fans, then. Anyway, Torres stayed in the summer of 2010, when we were heading for administration with no buyers in sight. That was all the loyalty he owed us so I've never had a problem with him leaving. I think he just did what many of the players were considering, especially as Hodgson took over and alienated players. But I don't think returning would be a good idea, not under Rodgers, because he's not a Rodgers type of striker. He actually scores, arf. But seriously, too much water under the bridge, too much hatred of him for leaving, too much doubt over his pace dropping. I have lately been remembering when he was thinking of leaving and him and Stevie were in agreement that we weren't signing the top players we needed. What goes around does, indeed, come around. Heck, we aren't even signing Dempsey and I don't think he's the kind of top player they were referring to.
