El Nino arrived!

Finally, our pain stricken wait for new recruit has been arrived! Fernando Torres has cut short his holidays to sign for Liverpool Football Club. El Nino or The Kid which the Atletico fans and Spanish media has called him 'cause of his youthful appearance, become Liverpool record signing at £26.5million. He was reportedly signed a six-year deal worth £90,000 a week and will join with the rest of the squad on 11th July.

In May 2007, Fernando revealed the words "You'll Never Walk Alone" written behind his captain's armband during a game against Real Sociedad. Two months later he signed for Liverpool, leaving the Vicente Calderon with a record of 82 goals in 214 league appearances. He will be wearing the No.9 shirt vacated by Robbie Fowler. The number nine once owned by Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush, both are prolific goalscorers for Liverpool in their prime. Will El Nino able to replicate the feat?

At 6' 1, Torres is a big and strong forward and will be Rafael Benitez's eight Spanish player brought in since taking over the manager roll in 2004. He will be a big hit in the premiership, although it's too early to judge him. But I personally feels that El Nino is the missing link between our midfield and forward.

"Fernando Torres is a forward's forward, and he gives a team depth. He's fast, direct and dangerous in the box. He's still very young but he's doing really well. He accepts responsibility and he has a great future."

- Frank Rikjaard, Barcelona coach

"Fernando is much more than just a counter attacking player. He is a very clever player, especially outside the penalty box, and I can see him forming very effective partnerships, especially with Dirk Kuyt."

- Spanish football expert Guillem Balague

Can't wait to see what he can offer to our frontline.





YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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Tora! Tora! Torres!

Fernando Torres, 23 year old Spanish striker and Atletico Madrid's captain was in the center of the media attention this week. Just weeks ago, we've been linked with Henry, Villa, Eto'o and Bent which hasn't produced any positive signs for them. Now the press are widely speculating about Torres buy-out-clause worth £27million and revived the 3 major talking points on why he should be donning the red shirt? But Liverpool is not the only team that chasing for his signature, Chelsea and Manchester United are monitoring the situation very closely too. News from Atletico said 'Torres is not for sale'! Looks like Atletico Madrid ready to cash-in on him as his contract expires in 2009 and force us to trigger Torres's clause. Since they're playing hardball over the transfer fee, Rafa need an alternative persuasion. Report from Echo saying that Luis Garcia will be use as a bargaining chip.

If Fernando is worth £27million, then Rafa have to dig-deep into the pockets of the new owners for this. But the question is can Fernando Torres 'survive' in the English Premier League? Is he another 'Fernando' Morientes, who failed to live up to our expectation but banging in goals week in, week out once he left us for Valencia? Why don't we compete for Darren Bent instead of going after Torres? Bent is cheaper, almost half the asking price to Torres's and now we are set to lose him to Spurs.

The amount of money spent on an untried player will put Rafa in tremendous pressure to land the league title. If Torres perform then it's ok but what if he just an 'average joe'? A very good example, just look at Chelsea's megabuck superstar Andriy Shevchenko, a high profile striker in Europe but a flop in EPL. Henry cost lesser and Owen's clause is cheaper, both proven premiership goalscorers but Owen recent recovery from injury has caused Rafa to reconsider his availability. Henry rated £20million by Barcelona is far much complete player than Torres and I think Rafa would love to have him onboard if he can put his ego aside.

I know Rafa always play his cards close to his chest, but how many cards does Rafa possesses are remain to be seen? Selling players hasn't been successful so far. That's means George and Tom have to use their own pocket money to finance the purchase first, if not we'll not going to see any new player coming in at all. If we want to win the league title then we need to gamble and I mean big gamble. If Cisse was our biggest signing with £14million and wasn't able to perform, he was not signed by Rafa. Now we need Rafa to make his biggest signing in his reign and then we can judge whether he is making the right decisions or not?

Stay tune for more transfer news!


YNWA,
Red's Fury™

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