JimmyF

ATLETICO PLAY DOWN TORRES REPORTS Atletico Madrid have played down claims Fernando Torres has already agreed a move to Liverpool but the club accepted "things can change". Reports this morning suggested a deal had been struck to take the 23-year-old Spain striker to Anfield - a move which has been mooted for several weeks. However, the Madrid club insist no agreement has been reached. A club spokesperson said: "At the moment, there is nothing happening. There are no negotiations taking place, although things can change. "The player is on holiday at the moment and will report back to training on July 9 for the Intertoto match (at the end of July). "At the moment, any talk of a move is just speculation and we are still hopeful that Fernando will be with us next season." http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...p;TEAMHD=soccer

To be fair to him his constant stance was Rafa wasnt been told how much he had to spend which caused uncertainty. Secondly lets see once we get Torres tied up the other players we sign, will they have more funds to improve the team to this level. Signs look promising but you never know

No mention of Garcia, all they said very matter of factly is that we've activated his buy out and now personal terms have to be agreed with the player Though in the McNulty article it is saying the Garcia deal is independent of the Torres deal

5Live are saying that Liverpool have activated the £27M buy out clause

It is see above and also http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6239286.stm

Liverpool close to landing Torres By Phil McNulty Chief football writer Torres scored 14 goals last season for Atletico Liverpool are on the brink of landing Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres in a club record £27m deal. BBC Sport understands negotiations are almost complete for the 23-year-old Spain striker and boss Rafa Benitez is confident he has got his top target. Atletico Madrid want Liverpool's Luis Garcia, but that move is independent of the Torres transfer. Torres is currently on holiday until early July, but Benitez remains hopeful of having a deal in place by then. Atletico are reluctant to sell, but Torres is believed to be keen to link up with Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez. Benitez wants to land Torres to provide a spearhead for an assault on the title - and also allow new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to demonstrate their own financial commitment to his plans. 606: DEBATE Your views on Liverpool's attempt to sign Torres Torres has been consistently linked with a move to England, particularly with Arsenal and Chelsea, but Liverpool are now at the head of the queue. If he signs, he will join fellow countrymen Garcia, Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso, as well as boss Benitez. Atletico had earlier played down Liverpool's interest, with president Cerezo saying: "We've had no offer from Liverpool for Torres. He's on his holiday and resting. "I repeat that there has been nothing about Torres from any team. We're now working to create a good team for the coming year." However, Gil Marin, Atletico's major shareholder insisted that Torres is not irreplaceable. "Nobody is indispensable. No player by himself, very good though he is, is able to make a team achieve its aims," Gil Marin said on Punto Radio. "We have spoken to him and told him we would like him to stay. It is normal that he has doubts. It is normal that the offers and everything surrounding them has made him think." Torres, 23, scored 14 league goals in 36 starts this season as Atletico finished seventh in La Liga. The Spain international's Atletico contract runs until 2009. Torres came up though the youth ranks at Atletico and has been their leading scorer in each of the last five seasons.

Agreed, its gerrard times 100. I hope he comes in the worst way but if he stayed you couldnt really critisize the guy either. But feck that i want to see him in a liverpool shirt

Lets get this Torres thing sorted first, we've been down this road too many times to start counting our chickens. The thing that worries me is the neither Torres or the Athletico board want to come across as the bad guy in this thus they'll have to sort something for both to save some face. There's a guy on the AM forum saying that Torres wont ask to leave athletico it will be up to the leaders to tell him to go, i.e passing the buck

Didnt Marcottie say it was between us, Inter and Real on sunday...........

I'm kind of getting excited now

There is a guy on the athletico forum (I dont know if he's an insider or just chatting s***e) but he is saying that liverpool and athletico have agreed the deal and all that remains is for Torres to give go ahead

Balague was just on SSN mainly talking about Capello, but was asked about Torres right at the end. He stated that the clubs are talking which was more then the case last week, he believes that Torres will be a Liverpool player soon but you cannot 100% sure until things are finalised (disclaimer). He also said if Gil Martin told everyone that they were negotiating with Liverpool there would 30K Atleti fans demonstrating on the street not 300. Said the deal could be player plus cash or straight cash with the Garcia deal being independent of Torres' transfer He ended by saying that the good news for liverpool fans is that Fernando Torres is closer to being a Liverpool player or something to that effect

Those pics are amazing, nothing else can be said ......... wow

I think prentice is going on what Rafa said about signing players from the spanish league this past weekend

Eskimo, is it me or does it look like (from the athleti forum) that their fans are getting more use to the idea that torres is leaving?

What puzzles me is whether the club is giving him that info is he just talking s***e

Torres told: Make your mind up Jun 28 2007 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo FERNANDO TORRES will be asked to choose between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool when he returns to pre-season training in Spain next month. The Reds target is on holiday until July 10, but has let it be known he would relish a move to Anfield. But Atletico are determined to dig their heels in and force their 23-year-old captain to ask for a transfer. Rafa Benitez, however, will have been encouraged by comments from Atletico’s majority shareholder, Gil Marin, who said: “Nobody is indispensable. We are trying to create a competitive team and no player by himself, very good though he is, is able to make a team achieve its aims. “Atletico are building a team that does not revolve around Fernando Torres but around the team as a whole. I would be delighted if Fernando were to continue here, but the future is going to be decided by Fernando himself. “We have spoken to him and told him we would like him to stay. It is normal that he has doubts. It is normal that the offers and everything surrounding them has made him think. “Torres knows that Atletico want him and if Fernando wants to continue at Atletico, he is going to continue.” The Reds have spoken to Atletico, but cannot reach agreement on a valuation for the player. There is a clause in Torres’ contract allowing him to leave if a club offers 40million euros (£27m), but Liverpool, however, prefer a player plus cash deal. Reds forward Luis Garcia hinted he could be used as a makeweight in a potential deal by claiming on Spanish TV yesterday that he was “only thinking of Liverpool” but adding: “I would like to return to Spain after Anfield. Not to Barcelona, to Atletico Madrid.” No movement is expected until Torres returns from holiday on July 10. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-19369639/ Dont they have fecking phones that they could use to hurry this thing up

The way the other striking options are dropping from Rafa's alleged shortlist (Bent and Forlan) it could mean either Rafa is confident he'll get Torres wrapped up or we're going to be up the creek w/o a paddle ............. Though i'd rather be up the creek then having to endure watching Forlan in a liverpool shirt next year

Someone else mentioned it in this thread but I'm also in the camp that if it isnt possible to bring in a top class attacking midfielder (malouda, Mancini, Simao) and if it was economically possible I'd go for broke and try to sign both torres and tevez instead of bringing in a 3rd or 4th choice midfielder I also fear the longer this Torres thing stretches out the less likely it will be he'll come, they tried the same thing with Gabi Milito who was all set to join us, they let him go back for pre season training at Zaragoza and he ended up staying there and signing a new contract, i wish they'd just get it over and done with

I agree and I like the glass style roof over the kop, but it would look odd that the roofs over the side stands are different to that of the kop and anny rd ends

I quite like the designs, not sure on the roofs though

They look like early designs, surely not the final one .... I like it over the old design though

Atleast this would mean he isnt an alternative for us, anything on Towers

One thing with Balague and the reason why he may miss on transfers is that he probably reports things that are being discussed but they dont always go through, such is the way with 99% of transfers. So I dont think he's talking out of his a*** is just that he has info and he lets people know about it. He's always interesting

From a reliable source?