BELLAMY & CISSE DEALS ARE COMPLETED

Rafael Benitez has confirmed that deals taking Craig Bellamy to West Ham and Djibril Cisse to Marseille have been completed. And the Anfield manager, who had just witnessed a youthful Liverpool side win a pre-season friendly at Wrexham 3-2, insisted that any move to bring Yossi Benayoun to the club would be a separate deal.

It is believed that West Ham have paid £8m for Bellamy, who has agreed a four-year deal on £75,000 a week, but any chance that Benayoun would be part of that deal have been ended by Benitez. Benitez, who has also allowed reserve winger Paul Anderson to join Swansea on a season-long loan, said: “The deals for Bellamy and Cisse are completed.

“And any move for Benayoun to join us from West Ham will not be linked with the Bellamy sale. We have made an offer which has been rejected. He is a player I like and would want to sign, and I believe he wants to join us, but that deal will be separate now. We will have to wait and see what happens now next week.” West Ham had attempted to use Benayoun as a straight swap for Bellamy, but Liverpool consider the Isreal captain is worth around £4m, and that offer has been rejected by the Hammers.

Cisse was also the subject of a late move by West Ham, but the French international wants to stay with Marseille, after a season on loan there. His fee is believed to be around £6m.

CRAIG BELLAMY'S LIVERPOOL DREAM NEARLY OVER

Craig Bellamy is on the verge of ending his one-year Liverpool career by signing for West Ham United – as Portsmouth raised the stakes in the bidding for Djibril Cisse by tabling a £9million bid. Welsh forward Bellamy didn’t report for the resumption of pre-season training at Melwood yesterday as he made his way down to London for talks at Upton Park.

Liverpool are in the process of negotiating a fee of around £10million for a player who they bought from Blackburn Rovers for £6million last summer. And Yossi Benayoun is likely to be part of the deal as Liverpool close in on boosting their midfield with the Israeli playmaker. Manager Rafael Benitez has already missed out in one bid for Benayoun earlier in the summer but the signing of French international Julien Faubert from Bordeaux earlier this week seems to have paved the way for his departure.

Bellamy has been West Ham’s number one target since they missed out on the £17million capture of Charlton’s Darren Bent, who snubbed them for London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. And Benitez made it clear he was ready to listen to offers for the 27-year-old once he furnished his forward line with record buy Fernando Torres this week, along with Ukrainian Andriy Voronin on a free from Bayer Leverkusen.

As for Cisse, staying with Marseille, where he has been on loan for the past year, is his preferred option. But Liverpool will hold out to recoup as much of the then-club record £14million they paid Auxerre for him as possible. Portsmouth’s bid could, therefore, force Marseille to up their valuation, especially as West Ham and Bolton are also preparing offers for the Frenchman.

While wide players, such as Roma’s Alessandro Mancini, remain Benitez’s next priority in terms of incoming players, he insists that the Torres signing signals the end of purchases in the £15-20million bracket. He said: “We know this is big money, but we were prepared to pay this for a top class striker. Now we are looking for other targets who are not as expensive as Fernando. We are working on two or three new faces. We are close with some of them, but you never know. Not until the players are here at a press conference will I be convinced that they are here.”

BOLO ZENDEN SET TO JOIN MARSEILLE

Bolo Zenden was today set to sign for Marseille after being released by Liverpool at the end of last season. The former Holland midfielder was expected to sign a two-year contract at OM after completing a medical today.

A Marseille statement read: "Boudewijn Zenden is at Marseille. He is currently taking medical exams as a pre-condition to him signing, and should then sign for two years at OM, before being presented to the press."

Zenden, 30, has played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Chelsea, Middlesbrough before joining Liverpool in summer 2005. His last competitive appearance came in the Reds’ 2-1 defeat to AC Milan in the final of last season’s Champions League. He has played 54 times for Holland. Marseille qualified for this season’s Champions League after finishing second in Ligue 1 last term.

ANDRIY VORONIN, The New Number 10

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N156311070706-1356.htm

ANDRIY VORONIN: THE FIRST INTERVIEW

Jimmy Rice 06 July 2007

The Reds' new number 10 speaks to Liverpoolfc.tv about his decision to leave Germany after 12 years, his role at Anfield and his first impressions of the club.

We first heard of your move to Liverpool at the start of this year – how does it feel to finally be here?

It feels very good, of course. I am pleased to be here finally. I am very excited to be at a new club, and especially one where all the players and staff are so friendly. I've noticed how the atmosphere here is really good. The club is helping me and my girlfriend find somewhere to live. I'm currently living in a hotel but hopefully that'll change in the next few days.

You've played in Germany since you were a teenager, why was now the right time to move to England?

After being in Germany for 12 years I felt it was time for a change, and then even more so when the offer came in from Liverpool. It's such a famous and big club – one of the most famous in the world. You can't resist an offer like that. The task in front of Liverpool at the start of every season is to win trophies and I want to be part of that. I want to help Liverpool achieve things.

How much do you know about the club and its history?

Some, but I don't know all of it yet. I'm learning all the time though and I will soon be up to speed.

You played at Anfield for Leverkusen back in 2005. What was your impression of the club back then?

I will never forget that night, even though my team didn't perform as well as we could. Even for an opposition player, the supporters and the atmosphere in that stadium were unforgettable, and definitely the thing I remember most from that match. The Liverpool fans are world famous, and though this was not the only reason I decided to join this club, it was certainly one of the main reasons. I can't wait to play at Anfield in a red shirt.

What has Rafa told you about your role here?

As a striker, of course the main task for me is to score goals. That is my role.

How confident are you about forcing your way into the first team and becoming a success in English football?

I am confident. If I wasn't confident, I would not have made the decision to come here. I feel I can adapt and be a success in the English game.

You've had your first training session at Melwood – how did you find that?

It was only a light training session yesterday, but I'm looking forward to getting started properly. The past two days I have been busy undergoing various tests here at Melwood.

How much are you looking forward to playing with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso?

It is a pleasure to play with such world-class players, but they are only two of the players at the club. Obviously they are two of the best players in Europe, and it's very important for a striker to play with such great players. It makes it easy for strikers if there are top players playing behind them in midfield.

Have you been told when you are going to make your debut?

No, but I hope it will be against Crewe on July 14. That's when it will probably be.

TORRES SIGN TO SIX YEAR DEAL

TORRES ALL SET TO SIGN ON WEDNESDAY

Liverpool Football Club has announced that Spanish striker Fernando Torres passed a medical on Tuesday and will complete his move to Anfield on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old is expected to make the deal official on Wednesday afternoon before being unveiled to the media.

source from www.liverpoolfc.tv

20 HANDY FACTS ABOUT FERNANDO TORRES

Hugh Larkin
28/05/2007


Fernando Torres is the Spanish striker has been linked with all of the current ‘Big 4’ clubs in the Premiership at some time or other and all the indications are that he’ll be the target of furious speculation again this summer.

1. Torres is nicknamed El Nino- ‘The Kid’, because of his youthful appearance and precocious rise to fame

2. He first played for Atletico Madrid as a 17 year old in June 2001- and scored in his second game

3. He was a phenomenally successful player at youth level. He scored the winning goal in the Finals of the European under 16 and under 19 championships. In the latter competition he was top scorer and voted player of the tournament.

4. Torres netted three times in last year’s World Cup in Germany

5. He grew up in an area of the capital that normally gives allegiance to Real Madrid but he has always been an Atletico supporter.

6. Torres is Atletico’s youngest ever captain, receiving the armband for the first time at just 19 years of age.

7. He has 40 caps for Spain and 14 goals at time of writing

8. Speculation was rife a few weeks ago that Liverpool was his future destination, when it was revealed that he had the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on the back of his skipper’s armband.

9. He now has 71 goals in 169 games for Atletico and he helped them back to the top division in 2002.

10. For the past 5 seasons Torres has netted double figures in LA Liga, his best total being 20.

11. He did much to take Spain to the 2006 World Cup by scoring 7 times in 11 games.

12. Spanish coach Luis Aragones is quoted as saying Torres ‘never scores two goals the same’, alluding to the versatility he shows up front.

13. Torres is noted for his pace to unsettle defenders but he also has aerial presence, which explains much of his appeal to Premiership managers.

14. Atletico have a clause in Torres’ contract that says that if they sell him it must be for at least £27 million

15. Torres has 13 League goals this season and has been on the park for more minutes than any other player at the club.

16. On 14th May, the Atletico President was on Spanish TV and repeated that the club did not want to sell their key asset and added that he thought Torres would not want to leave his only club.

17. Torres was actually dropped from the Spanish squad in November after scoring only two goals from the start of the season. He was recalled in April.

18. He has been with Atletico- via the youth teams-since the age of 11.

19. Atletico have missed out on European competition for the past coupe of seasons. Qualification for the UEFA cup in the next few weeks could be critical to the player’s future plans.

20. Torres wears the number nine shirt and has a personal fan club know as the ‘F9T’.