FERNANDO TORRES last night warned Liverpool’s American owners to buy world-class players or he could quit Anfield.
Crocked Spanish star Torres has seen his dreams of glory disappear in a season in which Liverpool have drifted from bad to worse on and off the pitch.
The mild-mannered star has even turned on some of his own team-mates, making it clear he thinks many are not up to the job of winning the Premier League or in Europe.
And in blistering attack, the £26.5m striker says co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett now have to dig deep or see the club lose touch with their rivals.
Torres said: “It’s frustrating. We finished second last season. This season should have been a turning point for us – a chance to do something great.
“Manchester United sold Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, while Chelsea didn’t sign anyone. But it
hasn’t been. It’s now the owners’ turn.
They have to sign players so that this does not happen again.
“If we want to compete with United and Chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad. We need more
genuinely first-class players and we can’t let our best players leave.”
Torres has always toed the party line at Anfield, but, fresh from the shock FA Cup defeat to Reading, his decision to
go public with such strong criticism of the owners and the standard of his side will set alarm bells ringing.
There is a genuine fear that if Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League, then he and Steven Gerrard will quit for a club with a genuine chance of silverware.
Speaking in Four-Four-Two magazine, Torres added: “We didn’t want to win the Europa League at the start of
the season but it’s a reality now.
“Now we have to win it. Anything less than winning the tournament would be terrible. We need to improve, we need
to take responsibility and we need to get into the top four and win something.
We have virtually no chance of winning the title now. Now we need to make the best of this situation.”
Torres is out for at least six weeks after he underwent knee surgery on the injury suffered against Reading on Wednesday.
Gerrard will miss the next two weeks with a hamstring strain, while Yossi Benayoun is facing a month on the
sidelines with a broken rib.
Benitez has been told his job is safe until the summer – though warned if things contiunued to get worse then
he could be dumped sooner.
The Anfield board have already pencilled in Kenny Dalglish to move across from his ambassador’s role at
the club to take over in a temporary basis if Benitez is sacked.
The Spaniard is only months into a new five-year deal which means it would cost in excess of £10m to get rid of him – and also explains why Benitez is in no rush to resign.
To be fair, that' swhat I wanted to hear! Torres is the most frustrated man at Anfield, he has not won anything not even FA cup!!
Crocked Spanish star Torres has seen his dreams of glory disappear in a season in which Liverpool have drifted from bad to worse on and off the pitch.
The mild-mannered star has even turned on some of his own team-mates, making it clear he thinks many are not up to the job of winning the Premier League or in Europe.
And in blistering attack, the £26.5m striker says co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett now have to dig deep or see the club lose touch with their rivals.
Torres said: “It’s frustrating. We finished second last season. This season should have been a turning point for us – a chance to do something great.
“Manchester United sold Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, while Chelsea didn’t sign anyone. But it
hasn’t been. It’s now the owners’ turn.
They have to sign players so that this does not happen again.
“If we want to compete with United and Chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad. We need more
genuinely first-class players and we can’t let our best players leave.”
Torres has always toed the party line at Anfield, but, fresh from the shock FA Cup defeat to Reading, his decision to
go public with such strong criticism of the owners and the standard of his side will set alarm bells ringing.
There is a genuine fear that if Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League, then he and Steven Gerrard will quit for a club with a genuine chance of silverware.
Speaking in Four-Four-Two magazine, Torres added: “We didn’t want to win the Europa League at the start of
the season but it’s a reality now.
“Now we have to win it. Anything less than winning the tournament would be terrible. We need to improve, we need
to take responsibility and we need to get into the top four and win something.
We have virtually no chance of winning the title now. Now we need to make the best of this situation.”
Torres is out for at least six weeks after he underwent knee surgery on the injury suffered against Reading on Wednesday.
Gerrard will miss the next two weeks with a hamstring strain, while Yossi Benayoun is facing a month on the
sidelines with a broken rib.
Benitez has been told his job is safe until the summer – though warned if things contiunued to get worse then
he could be dumped sooner.
The Anfield board have already pencilled in Kenny Dalglish to move across from his ambassador’s role at
the club to take over in a temporary basis if Benitez is sacked.
The Spaniard is only months into a new five-year deal which means it would cost in excess of £10m to get rid of him – and also explains why Benitez is in no rush to resign.
To be fair, that' swhat I wanted to hear! Torres is the most frustrated man at Anfield, he has not won anything not even FA cup!!
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