JULY 4
Rafa: Fernando Torres passion was key

By David Prentice - Liverpool Echo

Fernando Torres’ “passion for Liverpool” was the key to Rafa Benitez smashing Liverpool’s transfer record to land the Spanish striker.

The 23-year-old passed a medical last night and was due to be unveiled at Anfield today.

And delighted boss Benitez said: “Atletico Madrid had better offers and the player had better offers.

“But he always wanted to join Liverpool. That was the key for me.

“We needed to work hard because there were other clubs who wanted him that we knew about - other clubs offering more money.

“But the player said straight away ‘I want to join Liverpool’. He said we were his first choice and that was the key for me.

“He has taken a pay cut to come here. Okay he is still on a very good contract because he is a top player. But to be a successful club you need players with passion and Fernando has passion.”

Liverpool completed a £20m deal yesterday, with the £5m rated Luis Garcia moving in the opposite direction, and Benitez added: “I am happy for everybody at the club, for George Gillett and Tom Hicks who agreed to sanction the deal and for Rick Parry who worked hard to make it happen.

“He is a fantastic player who can score goals and will work hard for the team.

“I have also seen that he is a very hard worker in training sessions.

“He has talent, but he can also improve.”

Torres has finished top scorer for Atletico in each of the last five seasons, but Benitez believes the player’s goals record can get even better.

“If you analyse the figures,” he said, “he was a footballer playing first team football at 17-years-old and it is very difficult to score goals consistently at that age.

“Then Atletico Madrid were not a top four team and Torres was playing up front on his own.

“But if you read the comments of the Madrid supporters they say he couldn’t have worked any harder for the team.

“To score the goals he has at his age, every season, shows he has great potential and he has the capacity to improve. I hope that at a big club surrounded by good players he will get even better.”

Benitez also admitted that the sale of Garcia in the opposite direction had been a sacrifice.

“Luis was a fantastic player for us,” he added. “He had ability and he could change a game. But it is a good move for him and his family. Atletico is a good club and we are professionals.”

JULY 4
"Reds onto a winner with star Torres"

By David Prentice - Liverpool Echo

Earlier this year, friends of Fernando Torres gave the young Spanish star an unusual birthday present.

It was a captain’s armband bearing the logo: “We’ll never walk alone”.

It was meant simply as a symbol of their friendship, but led to inevitable speculation.

“My group of mates have got that logo tattooed on their arms,” Torres later had to explain. “I have been told about Anfield and how special it is, but I haven’t managed to go yet. I would like to, though.”

Four months later and that innocently intended gift now has real sporting symbolism, with Torres set to make Anfield his new home.

But strangely the signing of a player coveted in the past by Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, has not met with universal approval from Liverpudlians.

Perhaps it’s the curse of the long awaited “final piece of the jigsaw”.

Built up, and then let down by a succession of big money strikers . . . Stan Collymore, El Hadji Diouf, Djibril Cisse, even the other Fernando, the much maligned Morientes, some fans prefer to wait before passing judgement.

Sky TV’s La Liga expert Guillem Balague, however, has watched Torres since he made his debut as a raw 17-year-old. And he has already cast his vote - Liverpool are on to a winner.

“There is one thing I think everyone is getting wrong,” he declared.

“I’ve heard people say ‘Why pay so much money for someone who doesn’t score 25 goals every season?’

“But you don’t need that to be a successful team.

“You need a team which can score goals and Fernando is much more than just a goalscorer.

“He is only 23 now and is still a work in progress. He’s not the finished product but he is still an outstanding player.

“I would put him on the same level as Wayne Rooney and the stats bear out that comparison.

“Atletico Madrid has always been a club which relies on counter attacking football and that has been, in a way, his success and his downfall.

“Obviously he fits very well into that system because of his explosive pace and his strength, and as a result he did very well very quickly for Atletico.

“But the problem is that you can get stuck in that type of role, as Michael Owen found out.

“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.

“Fernando is prepared to do the dirty work outside the box, Kuyt is more effective inside, both are hard working, both are mobile and both can drift wide to complement the other.”

Torres has agreed a six year contract at Liverpool, and Balague has warned that fans may have to be patient if they are to see the very best out of Torres.

But he believes it will be well worth the wait.

“Of course he will need time to adapt,” he added. “People will have to be patient.

“He has always played up front on his own in Spain. Now he will have to play a different system and in a different league.

“It might not even be his first season before we see his best. Like Didier Drogba at Chelsea, we may have to wait until the second season before he can make his biggest impact.

“But he is very clever, on and off the pitch, and he is very humble.

“People may have to be patient while he adapts to English football but I am so excited about seeing him play in front of the kind of atmosphere Anfield generates.

“The fans there will love him.

“I have spoken to Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher and they are both very excited and I am very excited too.”

Balague has interviewed Torres many times – and in their last meeting, in May, there were hints that Torres was finally ready to make the break from Spanish football and move across to the Premier League.

“It is important that Spanish players go to another league,” he said. “All those in England have grown as players, they are more complete.

“I love learning from the best forwards in the world. [Thierry] Henry has been better than any other player in the world.

“Until recently, people didn’t talk about the Premiership that often. But for the last two years it is almost an obligation to sit down to watch the Premiership.”

In recent years three of the Premier League’s big four all tried to turn that interest in English football into a permanent move.

In 1999 Torres was voted best young player in Europe.

Arsenal tried to sign him because he had no contract. He got one straight away.

Rumours last summer suggested that Torres was close to joining Manchester United.

There were meetings between Sir Alex Ferguson and his representatives in Paris, but after United signed Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur, the chance had gone.

Then Chelsea made representations, but Torres made it clear he wanted to stay in Spain for another season.

Now he has finally made the break – and Balague is convinced it is the right move.

“He comes from a working class family from a working class district of Madrid and he became a working class hero,” he said.

“The fans of Liverpool can relate to him and he can be a big success.”

JULY 4
Torres: I'm joining Europe's number one

TEAMtalk

Liverpool's new signing Fernando Torres is delighted to have joined
"the best club in Europe".

The Spain striker will be unveiled at Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon with the Reds having completed his transfer from his beloved Atletico Madrid for a fee believed to be £26.5million.

In his last press conference at the Vicente Calderon, the 23-year-old said: "It has been a difficult decision to leave my all-time club.

"But it would have been hard for me to reject Liverpool's offer. It is a big leap for me and I think it was the right thing for everyone.

"The time comes in the life of a player that he needs more challenges.

"I have always done what was best for the club, too. The Liverpool offer arrived and I only told the club to listen to that offer because that is the team I wanted to play for.

"It's one of the best, if not the best, clubs in Europe."

Torres is aware of the enormous pressure he will have at Anfield, but believes he is ready for the challenge.

He has been given the number nine shirt, worn most famously by goal machines Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler.

"The fact that Liverpool are giving me the number nine jersey just goes to show the confidence they have placed in me, when considering those who have worn that shirt before me," he continued.

"A new beautiful adventure begins for me and I hope that with work and effort I can be among the best players.

"This is a unique opportunity for me. Liverpool aspire to everything and that has been an important factor in my decision to go there.

"I want to adapt as quickly as possible. I think Premiership is a football that adapts well to my style.

"I will arrive with a lot of joy and ambition."

Torres was saddened to leave Atletico after a disappointing campaign which saw the Madrid outfit fail to qualify for UEFA Cup.

He has played for the club's first team for seven years after supporting them from childhood.

"I will always feel at home at Atletico," he said.

"I am proud of what I achieved here, my heart will always be Rojiblanco regardless of where I go.

"I want to thank the fans, who have shown a lot of support over the years. It has been a pleasure for me. I hope to return one day.

"I have my conscience clear of what I have achieved. I believe this is a good decision for me and for the club.

"I hope that those who come here they will do what we haven't been able to do."

JULY 4
Where have the Scousers gone?

By Andy Proudfoot - Liverpool Daily Post

When Rafael Benitez launched into his post-match tirade in Athens about the need to step up to the mark with regard to the courting and signing of top-quality players, he also made several, less well-reported comments about needing to restructure the club from top to bottom.

While it’s been no secret that Rafa, like Houllier before him, was no fan of Steve Heighway’s Academy, the extent of change apparently triggered by Heighway’s departure has been staggering.

Not just in terms of the management of the Academy, with the Dutchman Piet Hamberg brought in to head up technical development, but in the number of young players who have been arriving from around the world like tourists on a Kings Ferry coach holiday.

Scarcely a day has gone by this summer without Liverpool announcing the signing of another young starlet who has just won the Golden Shinpad at the Latvian Under-16 Championships or similar tournament.

Goalkeepers, midfielders and strikers have arrived from places as disparate as Spain (obviously), Germany, Sweden, Hungary, even Bulgaria, apparently destined to learn their trade with the kids at Kirkby, or the men at Melwood.

Now there’s two ways of interpreting this. Either Rafa is building up his own International Peace Force to maintain the uneasy truce between Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise, or he’s just plain unimpressed with the current batch of youngsters coming through the youth set up and playing for the reserves.

The dearth of young talent forcing their way into the first team squad in recent years has been commented on by many, and the days when the reserve team dominated the Central League year after year are long gone.

The few who have worked their way through the ranks have been swiftly discarded, doomed to ply their trade in the lower leagues or, heaven forbid, in Scotland.

So, has the great Academy experiment been an expensive mistake? Are we failing to find and groom the best of British, or even local, talent?

Heighway, of course, would point to the last two FA Youth Cups in the cabinet as evidence that this isn’t the case, but the fact remains that the envisaged conveyor belt of hungry Scousers knocking on the door of the first team just hasn’t materialised, hence Benitez’s worldwide shopping trip.

It may well be that the talent-spotters and nurturers haven’t been doing their jobs properly or it just might be that tennis isn’t the only British sport where aspiring professionals just aren’t prepared to put the work in to get to the very top of their trade.

The protracted, but nevertheless welcome arrival of Fernando Torres is tinged with sadness at the reciprocal departure of Luis Garcia.

The mercurial Spaniard’s sins and virtues have been well documented in this and many other columns, and the groans of frustration at yet another misplaced pass will probably be the signature tune of his time at Anfield.

Yet without his ability to pick out an unanticipated through ball, and to score priceless goals when it really mattered, the last few seasons would have been much the poorer.

One goal in every four games is not a bad record for someone who was never an out-and-out forward, and if it weren’t for his interventions, Istanbul might never have happened, and ‘The Gerrard Final’ might not have passed into folklore.

To call him five foot seven of football heaven might be an exaggeration, but now that someone has taken our Luis away, he deserves our thanks and all the sangria he can drink.

JULY 3
Is Torres Liverpool's missing link?

By Phil McNulty - BBC Sport Online

Fernando Torres is being painted as the final piece in Liverpool's jigsaw - a puzzle that remains incomplete after 17 title-free years at Anfield.

"The final piece of the jigsaw" is a phrase that has become synonymous with Liverpool in an era when they have failed to win the trophy they covet most.

The pieces have been assembled by a succession of managers, only for men like Graeme Souness, Roy Evans and latterly Gerard Houllier to find another crucial bit had gone astray.

Boss Benitez has suffered a similar fate, despite successes in the Champions League and the FA Cup.

The list is endless - Paul Ince, Stan Collymore, Harry Kewell and Djibril Cisse to name but a few.

Now Torres is poised to take on the cursed mantle, complete with a huge £26.5m transfer fee and a lavish six-year contact to match.

The 23-year-old Spain striker will be under pressure to deliver - but this deal has as much riding on it for Benitez as it has for Liverpool.

Benitez has cited a lack of funds and an inability to compete for A-list stars as reasons for his failure to get anywhere near the Premiership pace-setters.

He made his most pointed accusations in what appeared to be a fit of pique after the Champions League final defeat against AC Milan in Athens in May.

It is a claim which will draw gales of laughter from some clubs, given the scale of investment handed to him by Liverpool's board in the last three seasons - much of it spent on very ordinary players.

It is also a claim he can never make again - not when new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have broken Liverpool's transfer record in such emphatic style.

The arrival of Torres is as much a defining test of Benitez's title credentials as it is of the young Spanish striker's glowing reputation.

There can be no more excuses if they fail to threaten Manchester United and Chelsea this season.

Torres is A-list and expensive; a symbol of the sort of player Benitez claims has been out of his reach before.

Now he has got him, bought and paid for in a record-breaking manner, he can no longer use finance as his shield against expectations.

And yet, despite his undoubted quality, Torres comes with an element of risk as well as an expensive price tag.

He is powerful, athletic, proven in Spain, if not beyond, and able to play as a lone striker as well as in a partnership.

But he is untested in the Premier League and is so costly that inevitably huge pressure will be placed upon him.

Benitez must hope he does not suffer the same fate as Fernando Morientes, who arrived at Anfield amid much fanfare.

He was a failure, skulking back to Spain quick-smart complaining that defenders in the top flight had the affrontery to tackle him. And tackle him quite hard.

Torres is the identikit of the sort of player Liverpool need to add to a miserly defence and an array of midfield talent.

If he comes off he could actually be, well, the last piece of the jigsaw.

Liverpool lost points and games they should have won last season because they were essentially a blunt instrument in attack.

Craig Bellamy has not been up to the job and, while Dirk Kuyt may have a heart as big as a bucket, he is hardly ruthless operator in front of goal.

Peter Crouch remains Liverpool's most reliable striker, but Benitez would not trust him with a starting place in the Champions League final.

Torres must come up with the goals his price tag demands - and this is because the stakes are as high for Benitez as they are for Liverpool.

JULY 2
Fowler impressed by Torres

TEAMtalk

Kop legend Robbie Fowler has vacated his Liverpool striking role and tipped Fernando Torres to be the perfect replacement.

Veteran Fowler, who officially left the club when his contract expired last week, is excited about the arrival of the Spain hitman at Anfield.

Torres has moved a step nearer completing his move from Atletico Madrid, it is believed, by verbally agreeing personal terms while he is away on holiday.

He is expected back from Polynesia, possibly even by the weekend, to complete the £26.5million deal, a Liverpool record.

As he arrives, Liverpool will be allowing Luis Garcia to head to Atletico for a £4million fee, ending a productive spell of 30 goals in 121 games for the Reds.

That was a decent return and made him a firm favourite amongst Liverpool fans, who indulged his occasional wastefulness and loved the crucial goals he scored.

Fowler, now looking for a new club, admitted to still being a big Liverpool fan who hopes Torres can step into his scoring boots.

Fowler said in a Sky Sports News interview: "His goals record has been fantastic in Spain. He has scored plenty of goals for his country as well. I think he will be a great player for Liverpool.

"I am a Liverpool fan and I hope he brings the championship to Liverpool.

"Since I have been playing, we've never won that and, as I said before, I am a fan, so I want Liverpool to win everything.

"Signing players of this calibre will only help the club to get in a position where they can challenge for titles."

JULY 2
Rush: Torres right for Reds

By Tim Hobbs - Sky Sports

Ian Rush reckons Liverpool are right to break the bank for Fernando Torres.

Newspaper reports suggest the Atletico Madrid striker is on the brink of moving to Anfield in a £24million deal.

Torres is also believed to be holding out for wages of £31million over six years and although the whole package will set the Reds back a mammoth £57.9million, Rush believes he is the man to fire them to glory.

"Liverpool are looking to get a genuine goalscorer," he told Sky Sports News.

"Between them people like (Peter) Crouch, (Craig) Bellamy and (Robbie) Fowler have done well, but I think to compete for the league you're looking for someone to get maybe 20-25 goals a season and Torres looks to be that."

Torres might never have hit the top of the Piccicci charts in Spain, but Liverpool's record goalscorer still thinks he can cut it Anfield.

Rush, who scored 346 goals in 658 games, says the Spaniard could be the man to fire them closer to Chelsea and Manchester United.

"He's got the ability and capability to do it (score 20-25 goals a season)," he said. "He can kick with both feet, I think it's always a great asset for striker.

"Liverpool don't need players to come in and learn the ropes, they need players to come straight into the side and Torres fits that.

"What they need now is those other two players - if they get them - to come staight into the side."

Liverpool finished third last season, 15 points behind second-placed Chelsea and 21 behind champions United.

But Rush says - even with Torres arriving - that it is too early to expect a first league title in 17 years.

"They've got to compete with Chelsea and Manchester United," he said. "What we are looking at is maybe get into the final month of the season with a chance of catching Man United and Chelsea.

"If they can do that, they'll improve and I think supporters will be happy with that."

JULY 2
Torres to take Anfield pay cut

By James Ducker - The Times

Fernando Torres may be on the verge of becoming the most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history, but the Spain striker will take a pay cut
to hasten his move to Anfield.

Torres has also indicated that he is prepared to cut short his holiday to sign for Liverpool this week, but, failing that, the Atlético Madrid forward will fly to Merseyside to sign what is expected to be a five-year contract worth about £90,000 a week when he returns from the Polynesian Islands in seven days’ time.

Although the deal will put him among the club’s best-paid earners, alongside Xabi Alonso and Jamie Carragher, it is still less than the annual €8 million (about £5.4 million) he presently earns with Atlético and some way short of the reputed £120,000-a-week salary of Steven Gerrard, Liverpool’s highest-paid player.

Liverpool have agreed a deal in principle with Atlético, although it is thought to be significantly less than the £27 million release clause stated in the player’s contract. It is thought that Liverpool will pay between €26-30 million, with Luis GarcÍa, who is valued at about £4 million, moving the other way.

The Torres transfer will not collapse if GarcÍa rejects a return to his former club, however, and whatever the eventual cost, it will still comfortably eclipse the £14.2 million that Liverpool paid for Djibril Cissé, who is expected to complete his move to Marseilles early this week after the deal was held up over the weekend in the wake of late intervention from West Ham United.

Liverpool would still like more than the £6.1 million fee that has been agreed with Marseilles, but Cissé, who spent last season on loan at the French club, has indicated that he wants to join only a team that can offer him Champions League football, despite initial suggestions that he favoured a return to England.

“We’re hopeful that the deal will be concluded this week,” Ranko Stojic, the player’s agent, said. “I’ll be talking to Liverpool again [today], but Djibril wants to return to Marseilles and play Champions League football next season.”

Aside from Torres, BenÍtez is said to be confident of making another significant signing – possibly a winger – within the next week, although the identity of that player is unclear.

BenÍtez also wants to force through a deal for Gabriel Heinze, although the Argentina defender is thought to favour a move to Spain, while Manchester United are reluctant to sell him to their rivals. Heinze’s future is unlikely to be decided until he returns from the Copa America, in Venezuela, in a little more than a fortnight.

Amid the clamour for star signings, BenÍtez’s desire to follow the path trodden by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, and acquire the Continent’s best young players before they become established has gone largely unnoticed. Dani Pacheco became the eighth such youngster to agree to join Liverpool when the 16-year-old forward completed his move from Barcelona over the weekend.

Barcelona were reluctant to lose Pacheco, but after the relegation of their B team last season meant that the C team could no longer function in the Spanish third division, the Catalan giants, who had already lost under similar circumstances Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively, are fearful that more young players could follow suit. Liverpool will pay Barcelona about £350,000 in compensation for Pacheco, who has been likened to Romário.

Joining Pacheco at Anfield are Lucas Leiva, Alex Kacaniklic, Nikolay Mihaylov, Krisztian Nemeth, Andras Simon, Marvin Purie and Mikel San Jose, players BenÍtez hope will make Liverpool a force for years to come.
JUNE 30
Liverpool seal Barca raid

By Graeme Bailey - Sky Sports

Liverpool have raided Barcelona to sign one of their prized young talents in the shape of Dani Pacheco.

The 16-year-old, nicknamed The Killer by his team-mates, was regarded as one of the best youngsters in the youth set-up at Camp Nou and only arrived as a 13-year-old from Malaga.

However, he has shunned their offer of professional terms in order to pen a three-year deal at Anfield.

Pacheco's signing is the latest in a string of youth deals tied up by the Merseyside giants in recent weeks - with Alex Kacaniklic, Marvin Purie, Mikel San Jose, Nikolai Mihailov, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon all penning deals to join the club's academy ranks.

Barca youth coach Garcia Pimienta admitted losing Pacheco was a huge blow to the club.

"It is a great loss for the club because he is a forward with a lot of quality," Garcia told Sport.

"He has been our top goalscorer and has already played for the youth team.

"Alongside Thiago Alcantara and Gai Assulin, he is one of the cadets we had the most hope for, but nothing can be done anymore.

"Everything happened very suddenly."

The news of Pacheco's departure to England is another blow to Barca, who have lost a host of top youngsters to the Premier League in recent seasons.

The likes of Cesc Fabregas, Fran Merida and Gerard Pique have all turned their back on the Blaugrana to make the move to the English top-flight.

JUNE 29
Benitez closes in on major signings

TEAMtalk

Rafael Benitez believes he is on the brink of the major signings, including Fernando Torres, that he needs to boost Liverpool's squad.

The Anfield chief was guarded on Friday on the belief that Liverpool and Atletico Madrid had struck a deal in principle to bring striker Torres to Merseyside.

But sources close to the club insist that only personal terms with the Spanish international now need to be concluded when he returns from holiday next week.

Although the Madrid club officially played down talk of an imminent move today, a spokesman insisted that no deal had been agreed "but things might change," privately they have accepted that the 23-year-old wants to leave.

Benitez did nothing to deny that a deal is close when he said: "All I can say is that Fernando Torres is one of the players we have looked at."

But after the first week of pre-season training, Benitez clearly believes that his top target is within his grasp.

He said: "You must always be excited at the start of a new season. You must also have confidence in your team and hopefully we will soon bring in the new players that we want to make the squad better.

"We are working on new signings all the time. As I've already said, the spine of the team is in place and now we just need to add to that."

Anfield officials are now very confident that the Torres deal is set-up. They will pay close to the £27m buy-out clause in the player's contract.

However, it is expected that Torres will have to say he wants to leave to allow Madrid to escape the wrath of their fans, who idolise the player they have called 'the kid' since his debut as a 16 year old.

Djibril Cisse has refused to be a make-weight in the deal, but Liverpool are expected now to sell Luis Garcia to Atletico for £4m.

Benitez would prefer not to lose the adaptable midfielder, but with Mohamed Sissoko signing a new four year-contract yesterday and Javier Mascherano also competing for a midfield slot alongside Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia's chances of regular football have diminished while he has been recovering from the knee injury that wrecked last season for him.

Benitez is delighted with the new Sissoko deal, saying: "It's good that we will be able to see the energy of Momo all around the pitch for a few more years. It's a major positive for us.

"The best is yet to come from him. He enjoyed a really good first season but last campaign he suffered some injuries. We have a lot of confidence in him though, and I'm sure we'll see the real Momo again now that he's free from injury.

"He's a player with a lot of energy. For his fellow midfielders and the rest of the team he's really important."

Liverpool will also have young Brazilian midfield star Lucas Leiva - a £5m capture from Gremio - fighting for a place in an increasingly congested midfield department.

The arrival of Torres along with Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin, could mean that Craig Bellamy will also be sold to raise the cash for Torres capture. Benitez also wants to sell Cisse and will not allow him another year on loan at Marseille. The French outfit are negotiating for a permanent deal which could go through this weekend.

The sales of Bellamy, Cisse and Luis Garcia could raise £16m, which will make the record-breaking Torres fee easier on Benitez's finances.

And while Benitez seems to at last be getting the top European talent he craves, his end-of-season desire for more youthful recruits is taking shape.

He has signed 18-year-old Athletic Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose, Bulgarian U21 goalkeeper Nikolay Mikhailov, 19, plus Hungarian youngsters Krisztian Nemeth, 18, and Andras Simon, 17, from MTK Budapest.

And Liverpool have also confirmed two more 16-year-olds will be joining the academy from abroad. The Anfield club have signed striker Marvin Pourie from Borussia Dortmund and Alex Kacaniklic from Swedish club Helsingborgs.

JUNE 28
Sissoko signs four-year deal

By Ben Rumsby and Paul Walker - PA Sport

Mohamed Sissoko has become the latest player to pledge his future to Liverpool after signing a new four-year contract.

The Mali midfielder, 22, had been linked with a summer move away from Anfield but has joined captain Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso and Jose Reina in penning a long-term deal.

After signing the paperwork that will tie him to the club until 2011, Sissoko told the club's official website, www.liverpoolfc.tv: "It was never in my thoughts to leave Liverpool.

"I read about the speculation linking me with other clubs but I am already at a big big club and it's an honour for me to be able to call myself a Liverpool player."

Sissoko, who joined Liverpool from Valencia in the summer of 2005, has been arguably the club's most improved player under manager Rafael Benitez.

He has suffered more than one serious injury while at Anfield, and lost his place as midfield anchorman following the arrival of Javier Mascherano during the second half of last season.

But Sissoko has vowed to battle for his place, saying: "I feel fresh and can't wait for the new season to start.

"I am injury-free and although I know I'll face a battle for a place in the team as we have so many great midfielders I'm prepared to fight for a position.

"It obviously gave me a huge boost to my confidence that the manager believes in me and wanted me to stay at the club. Now I want to repay him on the pitch."

Sissoko's commitment comes on the same day Liverpool captured their second top European teenager inside 48 hours as Benitez's summer spending gathers pace.

Just a day after Levski Sofia announced Bulgarian international goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov would be joining the Reds on a three-year deal, Athletic Bilbao confirmed that young defender Mikel San Jose was also bound for Anfield.

While Benitez and Liverpool are still locked in talks over their plans to sign Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres, it is also clear the Spaniard remains committed to bolster the younger players at the club.

San Jose, 18, will move for a fee of around £270,000. Bilbao were aiming to use the youngster in their second team next season, but a club statement said: "For us, it is bad news, but Mikel has decided on the choice of Liverpool and it was impossible for us to fight against a European giant."

JUNE 22
Benitez tells Carson:
Fight for number one spot

By David Prentice - Liverpool Echo

Record-breaking Reds goalkeeper Scott Carson will be back at Anfield next season to fight for a first team place.

The young keeper spent last season on loan at Charlton where he enjoyed an outstanding campaign, capped by his recent performances at the European Under-21 Championships in Holland where he beat club-mate Jamie Carragher’s record of England under-21 caps.

But with on-loan Daniele Padelli having returned to Sampdoria and Jerzy Dudek’s departure from Anfield imminent, boss Rafa Benitez revealed that Carson would start next season as understudy to Pepe Reina.

“I was speaking to Scott recently and I told him he will be part of our first team squad next season,” he declared. “He must fight with Pepe Reina now for a starting place.

“We knew when we fought off Chelsea to sign him he was a talented goalkeeper.

“He got some good experience last season and now he is coming back to us.”

Carson made 36 Premiership appearances last season, only missing the games with Liverpool which the terms of his loan deal prevented him from playing in.

He arrived at Anfield from Leeds in January 2005, and three months later lined up against Juventus at the tender age of 19 in a Champions League quarter-final.

He went on to finish that season with five first team appearances, but figured only four times – in low key cup ties – last term.

Now Benitez will be hoping the 21-year-old can provide a meaningful challenge to Pepe Reina for a starting place.

JUNE 18
Why Lucas Leiva will be a big hit

By Jimmy Rice - LFC Official Website

Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva is set to be a big hit in the English game, according to South American football expert Tim Vickery.

Vickery believes the Liverpool-bound youngster, who captains Brazil Under-20s, has all the attributes necessary to succeed in Europe.

"These moves are always a gamble but I think this is a good one," he said.

"Lucas has two full seasons behind him - one helping Gremio win promotion from the second division and then last year's success when he was chosen as the player of the championship.

"He's an exciting player of a type Brazilian football hasn't produced too many of recently.

"Of late their central midfielders have tended to be 'holders' who sit and allow the full-backs to push forward. Lucas is different. He's a big, blonde figure whose power and physical strength comes with attacking ability.

"He can pass well and loves to rumble forward. He gets on the scoresheet both with blistering shots from range and from bursting beyond the strikers. You can certainly imagine him playing alongside Javier Mascherano, for example."

Leiva will arrive at Melwood in pre-season. His current club, Gremio, was also the breeding ground for Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho and Manchester United newboy Anderson.

JUNE 18
Only the best good enough for Reds

By Tony Barrett - Liverpool Echo

There are those who believe that there was a mystical age when Liverpool just snapped their fingers and a top class player would come running to sign for them.

It was an age when the Reds manager merely had to mention the word "Anfield" to A.N. Other and within days they would be paraded in front of a stunned press corps before anyone in the city had even gotten wind of it.

God knows when this age was, though, because Liverpool's history is littered with transfer sagas which used to drag on from the end of one season to the start of the next.

When Liverpool went after the great Albert Stubbins in the summer of 1946 he only opted to sign for the club ahead of Everton after tossing a coin.

And John Barnes only signed up to Kenny Dalglish's Anfield revolution after begging the club to reignite their interest after an initial deal collapsed following speculation the Watford man had set his heart on a move to either a London club or abroad.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Barnes' move to Anfield, a £900,000 transfer many still regard as one of the best pieces of business ever conducted by Liverpool.

That transfer was masterminded by the then chairman and chief executive pairing of John Smith and Peter Robinson, who showed themselves willing to back their manager's judgement when he told them that, despite Barnes’ inconsistent form for Watford and his apparent reluctance to sign for Liverpool, he was the player to turn the Reds into champions again.

It was a similar story a couple of weeks later when the dynamic duo swooped to secure Peter Beardsley's signature, without flinching at the British record £1.9m transfer fee they had to stump up to get their man.

These were genuine transfer sagas which were beset with difficulties from start to finish.

But Smith and Robinson both shared Dalglish's view that the only way to get Liverpool back onto the top of the pile was to spend big on the best players available.

Fast forward 20 years and Liverpool find themselves in a similar situation.

This is without question one of the most crucial periods in the club's history. Make the right moves now and a genuine challenge to Man United and Chelsea could really be on the cards.

But fail to make them, or make the wrong ones, and a period of Newcastle-style failure beckons.

That is why there is growing frustration among the fans that Liverpool are still to take their place on this summer's transfer merry-go-round. And this frustration is undoubtedly being fuelled by the mixed messages they are receiving from the Anfield hierarchy.

In the messy fall-out which followed Liverpool's Champions League final defeat, George Gillett told anyone who would listen that: "If Rafa Benitez said he wanted to buy 'Snoogy Doogy' we would back him".

More than a month on and there's still no sign of "Snoogy Doogy" or anyone else for that matter.

Now, Gillett is saying he isn't prepared to spend money like a "drunken sailor", which is just as well as I don't think Benitez would want to see his transfer budget disappear in a Seaforth boozer.

On June 5, Tom Hicks told Sky Sports News we should expect some exciting news on the transfer front in the next seven days. Eleven days later we are still waiting.

In the meantime, expectations have been lowered amidst speculation that Benitez's summer budget will not allow him to compete with the big boys when top players do become available.

We are used to transfer sagas at Anfield, but this is the first time when there has been genuine doubt that the club may not be ready, or in a position, to match the manager's ambition.

The only way to remove this fear altogether is to come up with the goods, as Smith and Robinson did two decades ago.

Putting your money where your mouth is is never an easy thing, particularly with football transfer fees being so ridiculously outlandish.

But the only way of giving yourself a chance of being a success in the Premiership is to spend big on the right players.

Should Benitez fail to secure his first choice signings yet again, a Liverpool title challenge will be as far off as it has ever been.

Signing top players has never come easily.

But if heaven and earth needs to be moved for this to happen then that's exactly what Hicks, Gillett and Rick Parry must do.

Thor Zakariassen ©