Fernando Torres Moves On, Plus Any Further Updates

By: Noel | January 31st, 2011

Well, it’s official, LFC have agreed upon a fee with Chelsea and Torres is now free to discuss personal terms and undertake the medical.

For all that it seems like only yesterday that Torres was Liverpool’s savior, destined to go down as one of the all time greats, looking back it’s been a rather sad, slow decline over these past eighteen or so months that has led to today. The constant injuries, the need to defend him against constant accusations of sulking, the whispers that it was only a matter of time until he left. And now he’s gone, and FSG have managed to bring in a pair of younger attackers to replace him with, providing yet another point of break from the struggling, tumultuous club that seemed on life support only a short time ago.

So I’ll miss him, or at least I’ll miss the Torres who burst into the league with his first league goal against Chelsea; the lively Torres who despite injuries played a major role in almost getting Liverpool to the League title. I’ll miss the individual moments of brilliance, like the dipping half-volley against Blackburn, or the turn against Madrid. In the end, though, I was always expecting it, always half prepared for him to leave, and though his timing was absolutely horrendous and did much to tarnish whatever remains of his still unfinished legacy as a football player, the club moves on. The new owners showed they had the ambition he claimed he was always waiting for. So he moves on, but so do we, and given what in retrospect was a relationship clearly in decline as well as the immediate efforts to rebuild the squad, in the end it is a far less traumatic separation than I would have expected.

Amongst recent transfers it feels much more like the Mascherano situation than the Alonso departure, and in the manner of his leaving he has managed to throw back the loyalty of the Anfield faithful and leave them feeling cold. He’s gone; and we all move on. The club is bigger than him, and we now have owners who are clearly gunning for success. We have Dalglish back in charge and bringing back pass and move football. We’re moving up again, and meanwhile Chelsea is slipping further away from the title. So while I won’t be wishing the striker any luck with his new club, and in fact hope he struggles for form and has trouble fitting into an over-crowded front line with Drogba–frankly, I hope he never wins a thing with them and goes on to watch Liverpool capture silverware in his absence as Owen did when he foolishly left–at the same time I don’t truly feel the rage of the betrayed. In fact I might even feel a little sorry for him, and for his short-sighted foolishness. For in the end, he will lose more from the events of the last few days than we will.

Fernando Torres, after all, hasn’t truly been the Fernando Torres everybody likes to remember for going on two years now, and if he feels as though he’s moving on from Liverpool, well, on this end it feels a little bit like Liverpool’s moving on from him. Thanks for those first seasons; shame about the last two. We’ve got new owners, a new manager, and now a couple of new attackers to take the his place, and to make one more break from the last 18 months and the Hicks and Gillett era in general.

At one point he could have gone down as a legend, and despite recent struggles that’s what the fans so much still wanted him to be. Instead he’ll now be remembered as a good player who had two great years, was injured a lot, never carried the club to silverware, and whose actions in the end gave lie to all the talk of caring for the fans with a hideously mis-timed transfer request. But the club will move on and become stronger. It has already moved on, and is quite likely already stronger than it was at this time last week. And meanwhile Torres is left as just another mercenary for Abramovic.

Updates over the last couple of hours of this transfer window will follow.

Update: On Sky, Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston has said they aren’t selling Charlie Adam, full stop. I guess they really did want a one in front of it, and Liverpool wasn’t willing to go above the £8M or so that was their final offer today and that everybody thought had been accepted.

Also, the Suarez deal has officially been completed with the player signing a five and a half year deal with LFC. I’d link you to the official release, but with their overloaded server the official site only has one page right now. For the time being, you can see it here, but that may not last.

Update: Well, that’s 11PM in England, midnight in Europe, and the end of the transfer window. As mentioned by Rosco in the comments, Andy Carroll has officially signed on. Like Suarez it’s a five and a half year deal for our newest record signing, one who eclipsed Suarez as our record signing after his short time on top having topped Torres’ fee.

It’s always possible there’s something else coming if the paperwork was completed before the deadline, but it looks as though this wraps up the January market for LFC.

Final update: Say hello to Liverpool’s new numbers seven and nine:

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

« The Final Countdown, With More Rolling Updates | Home | Closing the Transfer Window and Moving Forward »

Jamieblue

Oh enough of this 'history' claptrap! Where were liverpool in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and half way through the 60s???? You were a second-rate, second team in Liverpool, second-tier outfit until Shankly arrived. You then had 20 good years at the top until you went into decline in the late 80s. Since then you have not really challenged consistently for the Premiership (2 seasons out of 20!). Your 'support' only comes from your 20 'good' years1965 til late 80s. How does 20 years constitute history when for most of your history you've been 2nd division?!!!!? We've been a much bigger more successful team than you for the last 20 years - does that mean we have a bigger history? We've been a 1st division team for most of our history - have you? Oh! and by the way - have you done any travelling lately? - go to asia, africa, america, australia and you will see kids wearing chelsea shirts in abundance - it used to be liverpool shirts but not any more! Big team my arse!
Yann

Liverpool 18 + 5, Chelski how many? Say no more.
sscouser

This 'song' is from a Chelsea blog:

He’s now a blue he was a red – Torres! Torres!
He’s left The Kop to join The Shed – Torres! Torres!
He didn’t want to be be a scouse,
He hates it when they rob your house
Fernando Torres – Chelsea’s new number nine!
They thought he’d always be a red – Torres! Torres!
You’ll never walk alone he said – Torres! Torres!
They bought the lad from sunny Spain,
He scored a few then grew a brain
He told the club he wants to leave,
To play with Frank instead of Steve
Fernando Torres – Chelsea’s new number nine!

Comment by sscouser: We better hold on to Reina.
lfc80uk

We have a quality N0 7 and N0 9 and this pairing has the potential to be highly lethal! Even though we have spent £35 million on Carroll and £23 million on Suarez it shows to me that the owners are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes for Liverpool challenging for honours.

On a side note £35m for a striker who has outscored Torres, Drogba, Bent & Rooney in only his first season in the PL ands 22 years old. Can't be bad!

As for Torres........ For shame!
Tawfiq

Noel lovely article..
I told myself once Owen left I would never love a player over my club..
Then this guy comes along and makes us love him..
My kids are crazy about him :(
I never bought a LFC kit with a number and a name because of my principles, but once FT said he is honoring his contract I bought one with his name and number! I felt betrayed and let down and insulted yesterday and the day he handed in his transfer request..
Thankfully I got over it thinking, he is the loser in the equation and not us.. We always were a team oriented club and not based on ONE player.. Im sure its for our own good and I hope we be in the champions league and win the PL trophy soon.. As for short term goals, I would like to see what Kenny has up his sleeve.
Ianjamieson

For the other 4 Aussies here that know what i am talking about, lets hope Andy Carroll is everybit as good as the mighty MAN MOUNTAIN from St Kilda himself. Sure as hell looks like a MAN MOUNTAIN to me ! (google: tony lockett, st kilda)
Yann

If he's anywhere near as good, we're flying. Whilst Carroll seems to enjoy a good fight as much as Lockett, it's clear Carroll doesn't have the same penchant for meat pies by the dozen.
Shirish K.

torres = carrol + luis suarez
*carrol was overpriced. :)
Petesjunk2002

I'm preferring to think about it as we payed 35 mill for Suarez and 22 for Carroll, sounds about right to me
Mike

Good luck to you Torres. As we say in the states, break a leg!
Liverpool Football Blog

Really sad with the way it's all gone down. Like you said, I'll miss the player he used to be, but he was so silly in his decision to leave. Any fool, with two good eyes can see that Liverpool is heading back to the summit of English and European football. I firmly believe, that he'll be sitting in his room in two years time, after Liverpool have just won their first major title in years, thinking "What a stupd decision."

I don't know about you, but I think it would mean alot more to me to stand by a club through the bad times, and eventually lift a trophy with them, then join one for 6 months and win one with footballing mercenaries.
PDubz18

Torres will feel like a prick when Chelsea gets sanctioned for UEFA Fair Play in 2 years. Then he'll be stuck on a bad team that can't pay his salary.
Giusti

Great article on ESPN from an unbiased author. Worthy of a read from the disgruntled Liverpudlian looking for the upside to todays events.

http://espn.go.com/sports/socc...
Noel

It's an interesting article, but I think he makes one key mistake that colours the entire piece: there's an underlying assumption that Liverpool's various followers will harbour some kind of grievance towards Henry and FSG for selling Torres, and to be honest I've yet to see anybody do so.
Yann

I can stay calm no longer after reading Torres today at Chelski - “It is the dream for every top class footballer to play at a top class club and now I can do that.”

Is there any need to slag off the club which nurtured and adored you, El Moneygrab?

I was philosophical about him leaving but after that comment, I have no more love for him and I hope he fails miserably. Humble genius my ass. More like top class mercenary, duplicitous wanker.
Ed

In fairness, that was apparently a misquote. The actual video and quotes are slightly different--not really worth rehashing for me, just very ready now to move on and thankful for the efforts of the club today. Also, Kenny Dalglish.
Yann

Well that's good to hear. I'd like to be able to hang on to the good memories without the cancer of resentment eating into them, and the story of his YNWA armband at Atletico is one of my favourite images of him. Even though he'll wear different colours, I hope he shows respect to LFC and all of us who held our breath when the ball was at his feet.
RedDownUnda

As usual, a well written piece that well reflects the confusing 'Fucknutteriness' (as Ed would so eloquently describe it) of the past 48 hours or so. One's left with a weird mix of excitement for the future with the newbies, and a sense of Coitus Intteruptus with Torres.

Looking for a further upside, these events must surely guarantee you Primo position once again clickety-wise; and I'm sure Messrs S and C will promote further floods of comment in the future.

As long as the mayhem is partnered by Goals For, I'll be a happy little RedDownUnda.
Ed

I think if variants of "fucknut" are my lasting contribution to the Liverpool Offside, I will have accomplished more than I ever thought possible.
Tom Foolery

If only more people took a reasonable approach to ambition...we'd have a lot more excited fucknuts, and less disappointed dickheads.
Noel

Going from the death knells of Hodgson to the arrival of Dalglish to the crazy end to the window, in theory at least January should be a decent month. Here's to lots of goals in February, in any case.
Katie

I can't fully explain how I feel right now (I'm dealing with this in stages) but I do want to say that I feel oddly relieved. I have been worried that Fernando would leave us for so long, and finally, it happened. I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Today's signings, as well as FSG's determination in signing new players, gives me a lot of hope for the future. Things in the summer will be very interesting...

And as for next Sunday, what is everyone planning on doing to deal? I'm thinking beach-sized crying towels and too many beers for 11 am (although it's Superbowl Sunday, so who will really notice). I'll be sure to follow up on how that one goes.
Yann

You never know Katie, they might be tears of joy after a Suarez brace.
Katie

I'll have my beach crying towel at the ready!
Noel

With his first comments as a member of CFC, I'm not sure that crying will be in order for me come Sunday. Though saying I'm still doing my Saturday night drinking and simply took a quick nap in the middle there might be something I take a shot at.
Katie

That's a great approach to morning drinking! I'll be sure to use that one next time.
Nathansthebest

i also feel betrayed everytime liverpool played and i didnt get the chance to see them i would pray torres had a good game i would pray he would put a performance in like he did in his first year !!! torres i must say i was pissed at you this season but that was because your bodie language was terrible and you looked misrable and to be honest i would do anything to be in your position instead of throwing your dummie out and turning your back on us !!! i work my ass of to watch you play and basically you have gave me the middle finger and thats what i will remember you for ... you was truely my hero i loved you but what you have done to liverppol fc and are fans i can never ever forgive you and it sounds terrible but i hope you get a bad injury and i hope ypou struggle to score and i hope u win nothing i do actually hate you for what you have done!!!
Ronnyisthebest

I'll take Suarez over Torres anyday, at least he'll play his heart out
steven.

sounds hollow but i was more upset when Rafa left....
PDubz18

I am astonished at how many Liverpool fans were actually sad to see Rafa go. He was a horrible tactician, a bad transfer director, and on top of it all unprofessional. Sure, he lives, talks, and bleeds Liverpool, but so does everyone who reads this blog regularly. He never won the EPL because his coaching style does not support teams that play to win week after week. This was confirmed by his stint at Inter Milan, he took a team that had no idea how to lose and ruined their spirit and form. I do not see how a fan can want that kind of liability at the helm of their club...
Bertrand

Did you watch Valencia under Rafa play?
.....

its carroll with two L's you fucking liverpool fans learn that shit. fuck im gonna fucking miss him scoring.
Yann

Carrollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. Happy now?
Ed

I think there's one instance between the article and the comments in which it's spelled incorrectly.

But now you've gone and made it two. Shame.
John

Here's what I wrote to one of my best friends, a Chelsea supporter, just a few minutes ago:

"Let me set all you Chelski fans straight here, from a die-hard Reds fan.

Torres is good. Nobody questions that. On his day, he can be a pain for defenses to deal with. Again, nobody questions that. But he does not torment defenses like he did for ONE YEAR. He is not what he was 3 years ago, in fact, he never was terribly much more than a poacher who had some impressive seasons. Yes, he has scored some amazing goals, but so has Hulk at Porto or Dempsey at Fulham. Having watched almost every single European and League match that he's played in for 3 years, I can tell you that he is wildly overvalued. I have not been a fan of his for about a year now. His attitude and overall style of play is not enjoyable to watch.

As a striker, he is frustratingly unwilling to hold up play to allow others into attacking positions. In the box, he is woeful in the air and rarely attacks crosses. In fact, I can say with no doubt in my mind that I have not seem him win a header in over a year. He is poor on the volley, as can be evidenced by the amount of times he has flubbed many brilliant passes and rebounds that have sat up well. He can catch one nicely now and again, but it is not a strength of his. When it comes to skills on the ball, he is surprisingly slow to get it out from under his feet. He cannot perform any tricks at speed and rarely catches defenders unawares. He does not blaze past defenders, even ones of poor caliber. On the left side he will pull the ball back to his right foot and try to curl it in, as he did against Chelsea. On the right side he will attempt to cut it back to his right foot and slip it inside the near post. That about sums him up. He cannot shoot accurately from outside 20 yards and is often at a loss as to how to play the ball outside the box. He also is prone to discipline and has received countless yellow cards for dissent and poor tackles.

I imagine he will try to step up his game to break into Ancelotti's side, but I think he is declining and does not have the toolchest of skills to improve beyond his current level of play. His value will drop at a sharp rate because of age and form. 50 million? What a laugh.

Andy Carroll is 22. We're talking about a top class striker for possibly the next 10 years. Luis Suarez is 24. Top 20 in the world talent, student of the Ajax academy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we have gotten a better deal."

YNWA Andy and Luis. Just let the King guide you, and you'll be up and firing in no time.
Bertrand

Torres is still only 26. You make it sound like he is on the wrong side of 30...
Mike

Thank you for sharing that, John. You make perfect sense. I think both Torres and Carroll were signed with unreasonable price tags. But as a Liverpool fan I'm glad we now have power and creativity up front. And ambition! I'm giddy to see the the first game featuring both. YNWA.
PDubz18

According to rumor, Carroll did not actually want to come to Anfield. That's rough, hopefully the poor guy can learn to love it at his new home.
Yann

Yeah, whatever. Take a look at the smile on his face as he arrives at Melwood. A picture tells a thousand words, or in this case - millions. The first time he hears the Kop sing his name, any doubts will dissolve.
Noel

As I understand it, the issue wasn't that he didn't want to come to Liverpool, it's that he had mixed feelings about leaving his boyhood club. I'm okay with that.
Gdv06

As much as I'm hurt as everyone else, since the thought of watching Nando in a Blues shirt makes me want to vomit, I think that this move is for the best as he hasn't been himself as of late. It's time for a fresh start for both parties, and I think NESV made a good decision to bring in new faces to kick off a new era for LFC, and let Nando go if he didn't want to be here anymore.

Is 35 Million for Carroll more than I would have liked to spend? Sure. Does he bring the same sort of dynamite or class as El Nino? Probably not. But I do like the fact that he has a lot of upside, especially since he's only 22. I think that he brings a unique skill set to the club, that we've been missing for a long time. It will be nice to have a strong, legitimate aerial threat, that will hopefully bring a new dimension to our set pieces, which have been nothing short of wretched this entire season. Carroll seems the determination to get on the end of any cross, and a knack to put them on frame. While he certainly does not possess the foot skills of Torres, i think that the addition of Suarez can compensate. With him playing off of Carroll, I think the two can from a deadly duo and add a fresh dynamic to our squad. With LFC splashing out so much cash on 2 forwards, you have to imagine that we're going to be playing a 4-4-2 for the majority of games. It will be interesting to see how Kenny decides to shape the midfield. While Adam would have been a nice addition, I don't really see a place for him in the squad, because we have 2 CM's that can play in an advanced position (w/ Shelvey coming off the bench, and hopefully Pacheco seeing some time on the pitch). I wonder what this means for the Lucas-Meireles-Gerrard Trio. Who will he bench, or are we going to move to a 4-3-3 and play with 3 CM's like Man City.

Only time will tell, but I'm excited for the future. I just hope that Gerrard and Carroll don't go out to too many pubs together, because I can only imagine the trouble the two of them could stir up off the pitch.
Yann

I just heard Harry Redknapp on radio say their offer for Charlie Adam, who they apparently missed out on by 2 minutes because they couldn’t get a signature, was £7M. Is the knacker lying through his teeth or did LFC not offer £8M? If they didn’t, I'm sorry but Comolli is mental. Something doesn’t stack up here.
Red2death

I don't know how we missed out on Adam. I guess we'll be fighting for him in the summer. No doubt with Spurs and Utd inflating his price to the full 12-14m Holloway was asking for in the first place.

Cue other targets.

Well, at least we have enough cover in that department already. Adam would just be a bonus.
Noel

Supposedly Liverpool may have gone as high as £10M, but at the very least they went to eight by all reports. And it is Redknapp, so... yeah.
Yann

Anyway boys, let's get happy and stay positive. Ambition is back at Anfield and I'm pretty confident we'll be alright. So we spent above the odds, big deal. Who dares wins, right? Lets go Liverpool, lets go!
Rosco

That's carrol officially a Liverpool player. Welcome big man, hope you hit the ground running
Rhymenoceros

I think we'll be ok at left back (at least for the coming 5 months - we can bolster in summer)...we obviously have been using Glen there and we have Aurelio to jump in whenever. However, it would've been nice to bring in a pacy winger in Jan...but oh well, no point in crying over spilled breast milk...
Noel

And there's always thirty minutes left in the window for a shock signing.
RedDub

only prob is again no wide players or left back?? could really do with a bit of depth there or we're taking a major gamble
Rhymenoceros

Also, if left back was a very serious issue, we would have kept slippery paul...the player is not very good, but can fill the position if need be...Kenny obviously isn't too worried in LWB since he was loaned out.
RedDub

But I want everything now!! Nah, you're right, It's not too bad,..just not much cover in those area's so we'll need a bit of luck. Kenny should be well able to get Caroll and Suarez up to speed, both hard workers already. Onwards and upwards.
DJ-Chutfield

I fully agree with what you said, I am surprised with how bright the future looks, I always silently dreaded the day he finally moved on because I thought it would begin the downfall of LFC. His timing is shameful. We've finally got the ambitious owners he's always claimed he's wanted, he's got the back-up up front with Suarez and Andy Carroll... his departure now is indefensible, especially the manner in which he did it. I wish I could say I didn't feel hurt or betrayed, but bright as the future looks, I am still hurt and I do still feel betrayed. I always thought El Nino was the exception.
richyt

Let the man leave and move on!
pureredd

Richyt did you read Noels article ? Letting the man leave and moving on is what its all about !!!
richyt

Pureredd... Yes , I read it and post your response and I 'felt' the need to revisit the article. I stand by my original post.....
Ed

"Thanks for those first seasons; shame about the last two. We’ve got new owners, a new manager, and now a couple of new attackers to take the his place, and to make one more break from the last 18 months and the Hicks and Gillett era in general."

"But the club will move on and become stronger. It has already moved on, and is quite likely already stronger than it was at this time last week."

Excerpted because reading in full is a major pain in the ass.
pureredd

Noel, great article. Summed it up for me and most of us who have watched him closely these last 2 seasons.
Bobbypay

what a load of claptrap Torres has left Liverpool because liverpool are no longer a top four side, at best you will stuggle to stay in the premiership at worst you will end up with Leeds, to say he is going to a club in decline is a joke have you not seen chelseas youth comming through,I can honestly say there is not one player apart from Torres who would get a game in the Chelsea 11.how sad you bin dippers are living on your memorys and thats all you will have for the next 10 years.
Silent_bob_uk2k

Bobbypay doesn't like punctuation.
Mike

Punctuation or proper use of a CAPS lock? You can't have both, buddy.
Silent_bob_uk2k

You're right, I'm setting the bar too high. How about we settle on a paragraph of childish drivel? Oh, wait....he already gave us that. Bobbypay....you da cow!
Katie

Thanks for the insightful and well-spelled comment. I do hope that you come back soon.
Ed

You've been away too long.
Katie

I know! I don't know what happened, but I do know that I will be back with a vengeance.
LFC

2 WORDS 4 U KINGKENNY + EUROPEAN CUP
Geza

Hehe can't wait for those financial fair-play rules to come in play :) Once M. Abramovich gets tired and finds himself a new toy, you'll sink back to where you belong.
Jerod

"Here lies one whose name was writ in water."

Adios, muchacho.
Geza

Spot on - very well summed up. I am simply a bit sceptical (like most of us) about the Carroll deal - 35 MM£ sounds like an enormous gamble
joey

im a liverpool fan from malta. daglish is a legend gerrard is an icon torres a mercinary