Football Special Report: Liverpool’s expenditure plans, transfers and signings during the summers, deal with QSL’s Huang, player controversies (Part 2)
After the removal of Benitez from Liverpool, the Fulham manager Roy Hodgson was crowned as the new ruler of Kop. In the following time, he made some amazing moves to reinvent the Liverpool squad and with the Joe Cole manipulation, he out done himself. He convinced the Liverpool captain and vice captain Gerrard and Jamie Carragher to convince Cole, who had been refused a renewal on his contract, to come to Liverpool.
Eventually the duo succeeded in making the English international play for the Reds, and Hodgson smarty gave all the credit to Gerrard, therefore shackling him to a career at Liverpool. Just 24 hours later, Gerrard held a press conference in which the world class player announced that he would be staying at Anfield.
Gerrard while confirming his stay with Liverpool stated, “I wanted the chance to meet Roy Hodgson privately and having done so, I'm very impressed with his plans for the future”.
The Liverpool manager was exuberant on the news and expressed, “It's a great piece of news. There won't be anyone in Liverpool today who isn't delighted to hear that. I'm really pleased about it because I've got great respect for Steven Gerrard. He's a player who I was really looking forward to working with when I came to Liverpool.”
He continued, “It seems now with that commitment that this will happen. It gives everyone a boost without question. It will be a tough season, with a lot of matches and the disappointment of last season is going to take a while to dissipate, but it is very good that our best player is still going to be playing at this club.”
He also said that with the signing of Joe Cole, they were lucky to boost the squad and that they will be going into this season's competition, maybe stronger on paper than they were last season.
Now this left the Spanish striker, Torres, whose World Cup career took him to a bad turn. It not only lowered his demand from the international market but decreased his price. Now only two clubs were willing to pay high prices for the coveted forward and those were Manchester City and Chelsea. They both were battling with bids of 60 million and 70 million pounds.
Torres had an extremely disappointing World Cup, in which he got himself demoted from the first team to the second line up and then failed to even impress as a substitute. In the last moments of the final the star managed to injure himself and was declared out for 3 weeks. Spain in contrast won the World Cup and he shared the glory with them.
On vacations in Spain, Hodgson eventually caught up with the Spanish striker and told him that his deadline had finished and the club needed an answer. He gave excuses and stated that he had issue with his past and the club, which made it difficult for him to play for the club. All these comments were uttered by Hodgson and not Torres. The manager also stated that Torres had told him he did not have any grudges with him and appreciated what he was doing for the club.
Now here came another turnover that no one expected. Again just after 24 hours Hodgson contradicted his earlier statements and said that Torres had just informed that he would be playing for Liverpool next season. After confounding all clubs and fans so much, the Spanish striker’s decision shocked the world.
However, this might have been a wise move as Hodgson stated that the club will try to have a pragmatic approach this season and try to win the Europa Cup, while acquiring at least managing a top 4 position in the English Premier League. Torres had been demanding an explanation if he was to return to Anfield and Hodgson indeed satisfied him.
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