Well what a day yesterday was as I try to recover as I write this article, what an emotional rollercoaster of a day it was. It all kicked off for me on the Friday night with the shocking news that our talisman Fernando Torres handed in a transfer request to the club after Chelsea had made an offer for him. Especially when hours earlier we had recieved the great news that Ajax and Liverpool had agreed on a deal to bring Luis Suarez to Anfield. From getting such a high from the Suarez news to getting such a low from the Torres news was just typical of the season we have had with more lows than highs to be fair though.
Friday night really started the mayhem that yesterday was to bring. Would Torres stay or would he go, deep down I thought that was him gone especially after handing in a transfer request. Monday started off with Torres reporting for training as usual with a mass number of reporters camped outside Melwood waiting for any news on his departure to Chelsea. Kenny Dalglish gave a press conference in the morning being as evasive as ever to the media as he gave very little away. We heard that Paul Konchesky went on loan to Nottingham Forest until the end of the season, which I believe will be a good move for him as I don't think he will get much game time with Dalglish in charge. Liverpool agreed a loan deal with Coventry City for their young central midfielder Conor Thomas coming to Liverpool until the rest of the season. Thomas will be based with the reserves at the Academy. Great to see Liverpool building for the future with the signing of another youngster who has represented England at under 17 level.
Then after lunch came the news that Torres had left Liverpool and was on his way to London and Liverpool had a bid for Newcastle's Andy Carroll turned down. As the afternoon wore on there was so much speculation with Torres and Andy Carroll, but it seemed everything was going to depend on Torres signing, but Liverpool made a bid of £35 million for Carroll which was accepted and then it was getting him over to Liverpool as soon as possible. Rumours of Liverpool trying to sign Blackpool's captain Charlie Adam escalated as the evening wore on too, but at the end of the day Liverpool missed out on Adam. The Suarez deal was finally confirmed in the evening and the Torres and Carroll deals were just finalised minutes before the transfer window slammed shut.
SUMMARY
To lose a player like Torres is a massive loss to any club and especially to a rival club, I was very disappointed in Torres with his timing of wanting away just after recieving the news that Suarez was coming to Anfield. I thought he could have gave us the rest of the season. If Torres had wanted to go to Spain then I could understand but to go to Chelsea who are an ageing team with not much history, not a great support has me left scratching my head on his decision. But with the Torres leaving I felt it was paramount on us bringing another striker in, ok we had Suarez coming in but it still only left us with one main striker, so I applaud Kenny and the owners for moving swiftly in bringing Andy Carroll to Liverpool. Yes I think we paid over the price for Carroll but you have to do that sometimes if you really want something and Newcastle new we had cash to burn with the money from Torres coming in. It is a gamble the signing of Carroll too as he is very young and not an established striker yet, but he has so much potential and the prospect of Carroll and Suarez is mouthwatering bringing back memories of the Keegan and Toshack partnership, if they do half as well as them then we will be very happy. So yes we have lost a world class player who didn't want to play for us anymore, but we have brought in two potentially great strikers who are still very young and I think this could be the beginning of a new era for Liverpool and I am very excited about the rest of the season.
YNWA
Yeah an emotional roller-coaster. I thought it was good business yesterday. £8 million for Babel and £50 million for Torres. We spent about £58 million on Suarez and Carroll, so we probably broke even.
ReplyDeleteNice to see spending taking place again, it proves the owners are willing to spend to build a squad. Much better than just paying interest on massive loans, like we were with Hicks and Gillet.
Also, they have faith in backing Kenny. Lets hope he stays in charge after the end of the season.