We’re now in the transfer window and already several strikers in particular are filling the rumour mill as to who we’ll see at Anfield by the end of the month. Darren Bent appears to be the favourite here but that involves spending another £20M plus on a player with mixed opinions about his quality in a Liverpool side. Villa bought him only 12 months ago for £24M and his value is unlikely to have reduced in that time, so a fee of over £25M is more likely.
Would it not be better to cut our losses with Andy Carroll and sell him back to Newcastle for £15M? Pardew has already hinted he would take him back. Clearly they aren’t going to pay anything like £35M and Ashley would raise his popularity significantly if he allowed a bid of £15M, giving an instant profit of £20M and a fans favourite back to his roots. He will probably develop into a good player but will he ever fit into a Liverpool system and will he ever really be more than good at best?
With the £15M (and a £20M loss), this money could be used to bring Torres back to Anfield. There have already been suggestions that Chelsea would accept £20M for him. Even if we had to go to £25M, this more than covers the loss on Carroll, giving us a £25M profit on the player from 12 months ago.
Torres may not currently look like the world class player he was but he is showing some signs of getting back to a very good level. With the games he is allowed to play at Chelsea currently, is he ever going to be happy or perform at his best? At Liverpool he will be in the team (barring injuries or resting) every week, up front with Suarez. He knows he has performed at Liverpool and surely Dalglish can convince him that with his contribution we can overtake Chelsea, get into the Champions League this year and challenge further next year.
So, which is it to be, £25M outlay for Bent or £10M outlay for Torres? No question in my book.