Torres signs, now any other business?

So the Torres deal is done. He is now a Liverpool player.

I have to say I felt a bit iffy about yesterday’s piece which did strike a cautious tone. Nonetheless without wanting to pour cold water on yesterday’s announcement and rubbish Torres before he’s even kicked a ball in anger, there are real risks, even Benitez conceded this yesterday, and I make no apologies for covering them. I also feel slightly better about the fee which according to reports is £20m, plus Luis Garcia. A bit cheaper anyway.

What clues did we get from yesterday’s press conference about the deal? Unless there are hidden add ons, it looks like Torres is taking a pay cut to be with us. I guess this says a lot about his ambition, even if the cut is down to a meagre 90k a week! However, the hunger was obviously there, it is clear he wanted to leave Atletico Madrid to better himself and more importantly he wanted to come to us. Benitez was predictably upbeat about his new signing.

“He has power, pace, is good in the air, scores goals, can dribble and do a lot of things. The kind of striker he is different to the other strikers we have at the moment.”

Benitez also said Torres was an improvement of his last Spanish striking acquisition Fernando Morientes.

“He is different to Morientes. He is quicker and stronger. Morientes had other skills and was a very good finisher but Torres can run behind defenders, can play in the wide areas or play between the lines to receive the ball.”

All this is a far cry from the article published in yesterday’s Guardian. I quote this only to provide balance. Sid Lowe wrote.

“Torres divides Spain. He is an idol and a star, his raw talent unquestionable, but for some he almost became a figure of fun as well, capable of combining the most brilliant goals with the most incredible misses. When Spain drew 0-0 with Russia in a pre-World Cup friendly he was booed by Spain fans. On one occasion he got the ball, spun his marker, played a quick one-two, dashed clear leaving his defender for dead . . and put the ball wide. It was, they said, classic Torres.”

Nonetheless he is now a Liverpool player and if he can inspire the same sort of devotion amongst us as he did at Atletico Madrid then he will be doing fine and the gamble will have paid off.

I was disappointed to see Luis Garcia leave. People have criticised his inconsistency and habit of losing the ball in key positions but the flip side was that as an attacking midfielder he did make things happen and 30 goals in 120 odd games isn’t a shoddy return for someone in that position. He has also played with Torres before so it would have been interesting to see how they linked up. Nonetheless Garcia did express a desire to return to Spain so I guess the move suited both parties.

The arrival of Torres must also trigger the exit of at least one, probably two, of our current crop of strikers. Djibril Cisse has been linked with permanent deal at Marseille but things have gone quiet on the Craig Bellamy front. Nonetheless Benitez suggested there was still mileage in this. On his leaving he said

“We have some clubs asking about him and it is a possibility. The only thing I can say is that Peter Crouch will be staying with us…”

The recent coldness of the trail could be explained by the fact that West Ham, one of his main suitors, have been distracted recently. However, now that it looks like they will be playing Premiership football next season, perhaps things will start to move again; with Yossi Benayoun coming the other way?

Elsewhere the Heinze issue continues to be mentioned but perhaps our thoughts, now that the Torres deal is done, should turn to securing the services of a winger? Malouda has all but ruled himself out of contention by saying his preferred destination is Chelsea, who have also upped their bid for him. It is doubtful that Benitez would consider him anyway after the Frenchman’s childish, arrogant little pop at us last week. Benitez won’t be stuck for other choices however, before we see any activity on this front, I suspect the exit door at L4 will need to revolve a few times?

Finally yesterday was probably the first time many of us have got to see the new bearded Benitez. I still can’t pin down who he reminds me of. Tom Jones? Though hopefully he won’t embarrassingly sweat, huff and puff his way through an Arctic Monkeys track as the Welshman did at Wembley over the weekend. Older readers might remember Mr Geoff “Bullet” Baxter, the PE teacher from the kids programme Grange Hill? But I can’t help thinking there’s an even more obvious dead ringer. It will probably come to me in my sleep at four o’clock one morning and I’ll wake up shouting his name, which will get the misses asking funny questions!