Roy Hodgson has insisted star striker Fernando Torres is not for sale as he aims to rebuild Liverpool after a poor season last time out (Reds 12/1 to win the title).
Speculation has been rampant over the summer that the Spanish star may move on to pastures new after enduring a disappointing campaign at Anfield.
Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champions League after finishing in a lowly seventh place in the Premier League. They now face a third qualifying round clash against Rabotnicki or Mika to qualify for the Europa League.
Torres himself was plagued with injury but the appointment of Hodgson, who succeeded Rafael Benitez in the Liverpool hotseat two weeks ago, is seen by many as the start of a new era at the Merseyside club.
Hodgson was quick to meet his star players, including Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but has only just had the opportunity to meet with Torres after the Spaniard returned home following his World Cup exploits.
The Liverpool boss admitted afterwards that he found the striker a “very pleasant man”.
He went on to say “As far as we are concerned he is a Liverpool player and we want him to remain a Liverpool player. He is not for sale and we don’t welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him.
“We spoke about football, the World Cup, his injury, and I told him how much I am looking forward to working with him.”
Hodgson also confirmed that managing director Christian Purslow was at the meeting with Torres and spoke to him for a far greater length of time than he did.
Meanwhile, Liverpool officials flew to Spain to see Torres in order to assess the extent of the injury he sustained in last Sunday?s World Cup final. A slight tear in an adductor muscle has ruled the player out of action for thenext three weeks.
This means that Torres is unlikely to feature in the Europa League clash between Rabotnicki or Mika, whilst it is doubtful whether he will play many pre-season games before Liverpool’s tough opening match against Arsenal on August 15 (Liverpool 5/4, draw 23/10, Arsenal 7/4).
Hodgson has also had talks with Gerrard, which he believes were positive. He made it clear that Liverpool don?t want to sell their captain and also stated that they have had no offers for him, despite rumours to the contrary.
Meanwhile, the situation regarding Javier Mascherano is a little more complicated as Hodgson has yet to receive a response from his texts and voice messages. However, he believes this is not unusual as Mascherano is probably recovering from a gruelling World Cup back in Argentina.
Hodgson also dismissed rumours linking him with a move for Nice striker Loic Remy. He said; “He’s a player who was mentioned to me by the scouting department and a player the club were following before I came.
“He’s a player I know very little about. If I am going to be interested in a player I am going to have to watch him playing, study him and make judgments which I have not been able to.”
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