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Chelsea makes huge bid on Torres

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Chelsea has reportedly launched an audacious $170 million bid for Liverpool's Spanish striker Fernando Torres. Torres, who just sealed the Euro 2008 Championship for La Furia Roja with the only goal in the Final to beat Germany 1-0, is apparently the No. 1 target for Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

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Fernando Torres, AFP/Getty Images Fernando Torres, AFP/Getty Images
July 3, 2008  10:41 AM ET

Damn!? If this is true (and that's a big IF) will Liverpool sell? That's a lot of money to turn down.

July 3, 2008  10:46 AM ET

instead of making that huge bid for torres why not try to get david villa , they could prolly get him cheaper .

July 3, 2008  11:03 AM ET

I imagine they'll turn this down but would accept the 2nd offer for a little more.

July 3, 2008  11:08 AM ET

We're not selling and Torres isn't going to go. He loves Anfield. I mean he was wearing "You'll Never Walk Alone" under his captains band at Madrid. He loves Liverpool too much.

And plus we're not the Glazers. Club is only something like 35 mil pounds in debt unlike the 100's of millions ManUre is. And if we were so desperate for cash would we be making the high bids for Barry and now Keane like is being reported?

Your blood money is no good in Merseyside Roman.

July 3, 2008  11:09 AM ET

dizzy- torres is already successful in the BPL.... not much of a gamble....

id be surprised if LP takes it.... i mean FT is by far their strongest weapon... if they got rid of him theyd have to do some shopping, altho with 170M in your pocket im sure you'd be fine :-D

July 3, 2008  11:16 AM ET

IF this happens this will be HUGE. i have a hard time seeing Rafa being ok with letting torres go, but that is a ton of cash. My question is who would chelsea get rid of to make room? Drogba? SW-P?Sheva? Anelka? Malouda? J Cole? you dont just go out and buy fernando torres for that amount of money to have him compete for for a spot on the team, you GIVE him a starting spot. if it happens i say keep malouda Cole and maybe anelka..maybe not. plus lamps, sadly, has to go now that we have deco, Ballack, makelele, and essien..and obi-mikel, so then they could cut...damn, this team needs to just cut its roster in half

July 3, 2008  11:19 AM ET

Damn idiots, how much was he last summer? Liverpool will never sell him.

July 3, 2008  11:19 AM ET

I can't see the sale go down but that is a lot of cash being thrown about. I would take this rumor with a grain of salt because Goal.com is also reporting a move for Eto'o involving Malouda.

Anelka? No. If you bring in another striker and keep Drogba then you need to cut your ties with Anelka. Especially if you are unwilling or unable to get rid of Sheva.

July 3, 2008  11:24 AM ET

"And plus we're not the Glazers. Club is only something like 35 mil pounds in debt unlike the 100's of millions ManUre is. And if we were so desperate for cash would we be making the high bids for Barry and now Keane like is being reported?"

Jackie_Treehorn | 07/03/08, 11:08 AM
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Nearly 35m in debt?? Are you sure about that?? You have to remember that we purchased players like Torres and Babel using loans, and the whole entire Liverpool FC purchase were through loans with an exceptionally high interest rate in GBP. Hicks and Gilette have yet to put any of their own money into the club. Hicks has even gone out and publicly stated that he would use funds earned from LFC and use it for the Texas Rangers Organization.

As for players like Barry and Keane, I am sorry but Aston Villa is asking for roughly $36m for Barry and Rafa will not pay that much for the player because he doesn't have enough transfer kitty. The latest bid yesterday was for right under $30m...which would also include funds recently received from the JAR transfer to Roma. The only way we'll get Keane is by offering $$$ plus players. Unfortunately I imagine that we would have to sell Xabi Alonso to Juventus for a hefty price in order to get another top rated player...

Money is tight at Anfield these days...

July 3, 2008  11:29 AM ET

Oh yeah: United made a substantial profit last season, earning a little more than 200m...it seems to me that the Glazers seem to know what their doing, and if they sell Ronaldo to Madrid, that's nearly $180m extra they're getting! SAF even said that they are really not going to be active in the transfer market because he thinks they have a complete squad...

IF Torres went to Chelsea, you can say bye to Drogba (going to Inter), Malouda going back to Spain/France, SWP going to another EPL club, and Sheva will be out back to Italy. OH and don't forget fat frank...we'll see him in an Inter shirt soon...now that Deco has arrived.

July 3, 2008  11:32 AM ET

Actual club debt is around 45 mil pounds. The debt which Hicks and Gillette have to eat is a heck of alot more.

And Barry will be at Anfield. Is ONeill going to keep holding out just to have his captain sit? We paid what, 22 mil for Torres? ONeill is on crack if he thinks he's going to get 20 for 27 year old Barry.

And Ramos is interested in Crouch, so I think we can get Keane from Spurs for a decent price.

July 3, 2008  11:34 AM ET

Finally, a good rumor. What a bombshell. In the end i think it will be just that, a rumor. I love FerTorres but you are paying for him substantially more than what CR7 is rumored to be going for. I agree with Dizzy, why not get Villa for about 30% of the price. Even though Torres is EPL tested, I do not think that should make him triple what D.Villa is worth.

July 3, 2008  11:43 AM ET

Yeah, the Torres deal was 25m GBP plus Luis Garcia. As for the Barry situation, the only reason why he is missing the first day of training is because of that unauthorised interview he gave. Yeah, it's no secret that Barry wants to come to Liverpool, but given the recent circumstances, do you really want someone like him coming to the team?

I would rather hold the cash and make a max bid for David Silva. What we need is a left winger, not another central midfielder. If the Alonso transfer doesn't go through, and we purchase Barry, then we'll have Barry, Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, and Leiva all competing for Central Mid. I suppose you can move Gerrard on the right, however we both know that Rafa loves using Kuyt as a winger...

Comment has been removed
July 3, 2008  11:51 AM ET

I love Torres...but for that kind of money, it's intelligent business. I bet you someone right now at Liverpool is doing the 'paraphenelia/ticket sales' vs 'Roman's offer' to see if it's worth it.

Liverpool could use all that cash to rebuild the team as they see fit. I don't know. It would seriously upset me to see Torres go, but Liverpool is not Torres, nor any one player for that matter.

Comment has been removed
July 3, 2008  12:07 PM ET

I wouldn't spend that kind of money on Torres especially when you have a chance at getting Robhino for way less. That is an incredible amount of money even more than what Madrid was will to pay for Ronaldo, about a 100 million more. Torres is one of the most talented strikers in the world and he scored in the final of Euro 08, but he did struggle throughout the entire tournament. I wouldn't make that deal if I were in charge of Chelsea, especially when you use that money for other good players.

July 3, 2008  12:30 PM ET

I would rather spend the money on Robinho

July 3, 2008  01:16 PM ET

It won't happen and I doubt this rumour has any truth to it. Chelsea aren't going to pay $170 million for a 20-25 goal a season forward when they could get the same for less than a 1/3rd of that. For the same money they could buy Silva and Villa, so why would they want to buy Torres?

And besides I think you'll find a certain forward from Barcelona is in their plans, who alongside Drogba would be more than enough to secure Chelsea another title.

 
July 3, 2008  01:16 PM ET

I personally think this will be horrible for the sport if this deal goes through. It will bring up the market value for all players substantially. Then again Roman has deep, deep, deep pockets and could do the deal. Hell Liverpool could buy another whole team with 170 million.

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