• Torres says Liverpool need ‘four or five top-class signings’
• Benítez: ‘Winning trophies is Fernando’s main motivation’
Rafael Benítez fears Fernando Torres will seek to leave Anfield should Liverpool fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“Finishing fourth in the Premier League would mean a lot to Fernando,” said the Liverpool manager ahead of his side’s suddenly all-important home game against Portsmouth tonight.
“People talk about money with Fernando but I can tell you his main motivation is winning trophies. That is what drives him. That is always the main topic in any discussion between us. Fernando’s only thought is to be challenging for honours, it’s all that concerns him. He wants to be playing in the Champions League.”
Benítez’s apprehension regarding Torres’s future can have been only heightened by a weekend interview the Spain striker gave to his country’s AS newspaper. Torres said Liverpool would continue to “go backwards” unless “four or five top-class players” arrived at Anfield. In the absence of such investment the centre forward admitted he might have to consider his future and, dropping a hint which will have been music to the ears of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, Torres indicated another Premier League club would be his preferred destination.
“I don’t plan on going back to La Liga for a while,” he said. Careful not to burn any bridges with his employers, Torres, whose Anfield contract runs to 2013, added: “I owe Liverpool a lot, I like it here and the people have treated me as one of their own.” Even so, when asked if he had thought about exiting Anfield this summer, the former Atlético Madrid striker said: “It’s too early to talk about that.”
Much will depend on impending results. In losing at Wigan last Monday Liverpool forfeited potentially vital domestic ground and a Europa League first-leg defeat at Lille on Thursday dented their hopes of lifting European football’s second-tier trophy. Little wonder doubts as to whether Benítez will remain on Merseyside next season are increasing.
Torres believes Liverpool remain capable of securing fourth place yet harbours rather loftier ambitions. “I want to be competing next year to win the league and the Champions League,” he said. “But that will mean bringing in signings.”
Unhappiness with the current impasse has been reflected by Torres’s unusually petulant body language since his return from injury. Benítez said: “Everyone knows you can have a bad season every now and then and that is why frustration sometimes gets the better of Fernando.”
Liverpool’s manager was encouraged by an improved attitude in Lille. “I know Fernando was unhappy with a few decisions and got himself booked again,” he said. “But overall he was more focused. His behaviour and everything about him was much better.
“You could see Fernando is improving and getting his form back. If he can keep putting that effort in he will get better each game and be among the goals again.
“It’s not at all like Atlético Madrid, where there was sometimes a perception he was carrying the team. There is no doubt Fernando and Stevie [Gerrard] are the key players, the ones who can make a difference for us, but Fernando has other good players around him who can help. Players like Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt, who is always trying, and Lucas and Javier Mascherano.”
Nonetheless Benítez needs Torres and the recently disappointing Gerrard to recapture optimal form tonight. “If we don’t win people will be more nervous,” he said. “There will be more pressure.”
Liverpool (4-2-3-1, probable): Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insúa; Lucas, Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera; Torres.
Portsmouth (4-5-1, probable): James; Finnan, Rocha, Ben Haim, Hreidarsson; Dindane, Brown, Mokoena, O’Hara, Belhadj; Piquionne.
TV: ESPN, kick-off 8pm
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