Thursday, July 5, 2007
Liverpool have signed Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid on a six-year deal for a fee believed to be £20m. Torres returned to Madrid to say farewell to the Atletico supporters before travelling back to Merseyside to be unveiled by his new club. He had been at Atletico since 11 and became their youngest ever captain at the age of 19. He has been the Spanish club's leading scorer in each of the last five campaigns, scoring 14 league goals in 36 starts last season as the side finished seventh in La Liga.
Torres will wear the number nine shirt worn by ex-Anfield forward's Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler. His capture also shatters the £14m the Reds paid Auxerre for striker Djibril Cisse as the club's previous record signing three seasons ago.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez wanted to land Torres to provide a spearhead for an assault on the title and believes the fee for Torres will not adversely trouble the player.
"He has experience," said Benitez. "He was playing in the first division at 17 years old and he can manage the pressure. He will be an important player and I'm sure the staff and other players will help him. He has power, pace, is good in the air, scores goals, can dribble and do a lot of things. The kind of striker he is different to the other strikers we have at the moment."
scored this goal at 3:52 PM
