Official "Fernando Torres is a red" thread

[Maestro]

Erm....thanks for the info. Nice to know someone has their finger on the pulse.

[Helios Creed]

and is expected to put pen to paper tomorrow.

if this comes to pass, then truly there must be witchcraft involved.

[Liverta 78]

Great news! Just read on the Beeb that they call him "El Nino".

[Neil Young]

Great news! Just read on the Beeb that they call him "El Nino".

He's certainly caused a lot of excitement around here but I think it's a bit much to accuse him of being "a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe."

[REDSCOUSER]

Cheers Snig have 5 marbles.

[redblood]

Medical passed...welcome "El Nino"

I have mixed feelings about this signing if it is £20 mill and not £26mill
then I think it is a good deal although risky.
I think he has a lot to prove and I hope he can settle and adapt very quickly indeed.
Having said all that I am delighted that G&H have backed Rafa and have shown the rest of the EPL that we mean business.
Overall it's a positive situation.
Welcome Nando Torres.

[anfieldanfield]

La Bamba....

Raaafa Benitez...Raaaafa Benitez...R R R R R etc Benitez
Xabi Alonso, El Nino and Reina

[blacky]

Time to start coming up with Fernando chants

[Shaggy]

Fernando Torres - your expectations

So Torres has all but signed on the dotted line. I'm buzzing but, for the first time ever with a massive signing, I'm keeping my expectations in check.

We've been stung so many times with big money buys - particularly with strikers.

• Collymore. He did well initially but it soon turned sour and ended prematurely. I genuinely thought Stanley Victor, a prodigious talent, and Robbie Fowler would form one of, if not *the* best strike force in European football.
  
• Diouf. Enough said. Arse hole. :whatever: Sold for a massive loss.
  
• Heskey. An £11m fee, great first season, sheer frustration thereafter. Failed primarily for a lack of the strong mentality needed to be a top striker. Sold for a hefty loss.
  
• Cisse. I hadn't seen much of him but, embarrassingly, I was very, very excited about him. He was ****, and will be sold for a huge loss.
  
• Morientes. Man I was excited when we signed him. I thought he'd be perfect for us. His lack of pace, mobility, strength and speed-of-thought left him wholly exposed, for the most part, in English football. Sold for a loss.

It makes for pretty depressing reading.

So what do you expect of Torres? How might he join the list of striking failures?

I don't pretend to be an expert on his attributes; I've seen him play around a dozen times and he's been both brilliant and poor. He's quick, but not Cissé-quick, surprisingly strong, good technique and can finish in all manner of fashions - head, curlers into the corner, lobs, screamers. He misses chances, but all strikers do.

I'm excited - I think he'll be fantastic for us but I'm not allowing myself to get carried away. Not at all.

What hasn't he got in his locker? What makes anyone think he won't adapt?

[BobTheCharmer]

9 League Goals & 2 in the CL. A freak sexual injury will sideline him for the last 3 months of the season.

[chavo]

if he could see the 1300 comments here he must be thinking crap i gotta lot of work to do!

Come on my son!

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

I notice you haven't included Crouch or Kuyt.

Expectations? I honestly have no idea how he'll do. The fee does bring massive pressure, then again Morientes arrived for a very reasonable sum and that didn't work out.

I hope he makes the difference but it's very rare that one player does that.

[anfieldanfield]

I'm expecting spark, unpredictability, pace, invention and over time...a **** load of goals.

[Shaggy]

I notice you haven't included Crouch or Kuyt.

Because neither have been failures. Well, Crouch hasn't - he's more than justified his fee and purchase - and the jury would have to be out on Kuyt. He did pretty well at times last season, and there's no way he deserves to be named in a list alongside the likes of Diouf and Cisse.

[Assassin]

My expectations are to see Torres prove his doubters are wrong, he is a class act, the fact that Robbie Fowler has endorsed him a excellent player speaks volumes