Roy Hodgson praises Fernando Torres
After a gloomy last season, and question marks on who is set to own the club there was some relief for the die-hard Liverpool fans as Fernando Torres pledged his commitment to the high profile English club.
The joy was shared by the newly installed manager of the club Roy Hodgson who praised the Spaniard who was also part of his country’s historic triumph in the soccer World cup held in South Africa last month.
Torres who had a quiet World cup, remained in the shadow of striker David Villa who was in tremendous touch scoring some of the most important goals for his team during the tournament.
Torres laid to rest, months of speculations about his future at Anfield when he revealed that he was poised to stay there for the forthcoming season.
Hodgson addressed a press conference a day after Torres's comments; the former Fulham manager felt that the Spaniard has a lot of football left in him and he will soon be back to his goal scoring best once the season rolls on.
For the time being the immediate ask for him is to play in his club’s opening league match against Arsenal on August 15.
Hodgson mentioned that the striker is still to recover fully from the injury he sustained during the World cup final at the soccer city stadium in Johannesburg.
"He's only been back a few days and he needs to do a lot of work to make certain he recovers from his holiday of three weeks and, of course, the injury he picked up at the World Cup” said Hodgson.
The most important factor for the new manager was the fact that Torres has come out all clear and ensured the club that he saw his future with them, and that is something that pleased Hodgson immensely.
"It's nice now that the speculation can finally end once and for all, and even better that Fernando's gone out and given an excellent press conference yesterday where he has made it absolutely clear how keen he is to have a good season at the club.
Meanwhile Hodgson added that his new employers have not yet received any offers for current Argentina captain Javier Mascherano who led his team to the quarter-finals of the World cup in South Africa where they were bulldozed by the young German team 4-0.
Mascherano who plays in the mid-filed has been linked with current European champions Inter Milan, which is now being coached by Rafael Benitez who was at the helm at Liverpool last season.
"We haven't had that offer, and as a result I can continue to work with him and deal with him as a Liverpool player and consider him as a Liverpool player and just wait for the day, if the day comes, when the offer comes in, then maybe if it's an offer that meets our valuation, and he wants to go, then I don't know that my powers of persuasion will be much good in that situation."
Hodgson’s move to Anfield has not won him the support of Fulham chairman Mohamed al-Fayed, who thinks that his old employee will take Liverpool on a downward spiral as he pulled out of Fulham despite the fact that the club spent a lot of effort in meeting his demands and ensuring a positive climate around him.
For Hodgson though the comments of his own, boss are a reaction to his move to Anfield "I'm a bit disappointed that the excellent relationship I had with Mohammed Al Fayed has obviously taken a knock back because of my decision” he concluded.
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