Mourinho has overhauled his attacking options during the current transfer window, bringing in Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid while former Blues star Didier Drogba made his return to Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Samuel Eto’o was released at the end of last season, with Demba Ba and Romelu Lukaku signing for Besiktas and Everton respectively this month.
Torres has long been linked with a return to the Vicente Calderon, having spent the better part of 12 years with Atleti before making the switch to England with Liverpool in July 2007.
The Spain international has struggled for form since moving to the English capital in January 2011 for £50 million, and managed just 11 goals from 41 appearances in all competitions for the west Londoners last term.
However, Mourinho still appears to have faith in Torres and insists his strike-force will remain intact going into the new campaign, while adding that the acquisitions of Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luis have given his squad more strength in depth.
“Three strikers is fundamental in a squad and we have three strikers. Fernando, Didier and Diego so one of them is not [going] for sure,” the Portuguese tactician told Sky Sports.
“We are so happy with the squad we have. We feel that the correct squad is exactly this type of squad we have, with people like Didier and John Terry, but at the same time people like [Andreas] Christensen and [Nathan] Ake.
“We have the squad we want and, I repeat, the club was fantastic in the way they worked so hard and so fast to get Diego, Filipe and Fabregas.
“The perfect squad would be with this 18 players, not 17 or 16, but rules are rules and we are working hard, even here, for not to have these kind of problems in the future.
“[We want] to have more English players in our squad which we are going to have in the future but in this moment we are still in the middle of this process.”
Arsenal tabled a £40,000,001 ($67.5 million, 50.4 million euros) bid for Suarez a year ago in the mistaken belief it would trigger a release clause in his contract.
The Uruguayan went on to score 31 goals as Liverpool narrowly missed out on the Premier League title and although he has since joined Barcelona, Gerrard was relieved not to see him move to Arsenal.
“Last summer, when Luis was out in the cold, I told him, ‘Don’t go to Arsenal,’” Gerrard told the Thursday editions of several British newspapers. “With all due respect to them, I told him he was too good for Arsenal.”
Barcelona paid £75 million to secure Suarez’s services, despite the fact he is currently serving a four-month ban after biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup in Brazil.
While Gerrard was loath to see the back of a player who he has described as the most talented he has ever played with, he understood the 27-year-old’s reasons for heading to Catalonia.
“Luis’s dream, from the first day he came to us, was to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona,” said the 34-year-old.
“I said, ‘If you score 30 goals for us and win the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) Player of the Year and FWA (Football Writers’ Association) Footballer of the Year (awards), they will come back for you.’
“I thought for his own sake, and to get our fans’ respect, he had to give us at least one more year.”
Gerrard added: “You can’t begrudge him his dream, leaving for Barca. But I’d have been disappointed if he had left for Arsenal.”
“Because of the prestige associated with participating in the European competitions, particularly the Champions League, failure to qualify for any European competition, particularly for consecutive seasons, would negatively affect our ability to attract and retain talented players and coaching staff, as well as supporters, sponsors and other commercial partners,” owners the Glazer family said in the club’s prospectus.
United also revealed that income from their new 10-year kit deal with Adidas will fall by 30 percent to £52.5 million ($88.6 million, 66.2 million euros) per year if they miss out on the Champions League for two seasons in a row.
Former manager David Moyes was sacked by United in April for failing to secure a Champions League place last season and his successor Louis van Gaal will be expected to steer the club back into the lucrative competition.
The Glazer family have also announced plans to sell five percent of their 90 percent stake in the club — eight million shares — for around $150 million.
The proceeds will go to the Glazer’s investment vehicle, Red Football LLC, rather than the club itself.
After rising steeply following the announcement of the Adidas deal earlier this month, United’s shares closed at $19.31 in New York on Wednesday.
The team of 26 returned home to a warm reception at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as family members livened the busy facility with chants before heading to Riadha House where Athletics Kenya hosted them to a sumptuous breakfast.
Fresh from adding the World Juniors title to the Worlds Youth crown in men’s 800m, Alfred Kipketer is keen to follow in the footsteps of record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha as he targets to compete at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China.
“It’s time to be kind enough and give other upcoming athletes a chance to grow. I’m now heading to the seniors and my first aim is to make it to next year’s World Championships which will be a dream come true,” Kipketer who anchored the 4x800m team to gold at the Bahamas World Relays told Capital Sport.
He explained how the came up with a winning strategy with team mate and silver winner, Joshua Tiampati Masikonde to ensure Kenya reclaims the two-lap title lost to Botswana’s Nijel Amos, the Olympics silver winner.
“Competition was not stiff because we had planed for it, I was confident of making it to the finals having run 1:48 in the Heats. We strategised with Masikonde on how to approach the race since the only threat was from an American.
“We agreed on increasing the pace until 200m to the finish line where I realized my team-mate had slowed so I decided to go for the win in my lifetime best of 1:43.95.”
Margaret Wambui, the winner of the corresponding women’s crown, told of the realisation of a dream on her debut where she completed a stunning 2:00.49 victory.
Despite being eligible to compete as a junior, the little known Wambui from Endarasha in Nyeri County who announced her emphatic entry to the limelight is confident she can mix it with the seniors.
“This is my first time to compete in 800m since I was used to 400m, being my first I’m very happy. I had prepared well for race because I knew competition would be stiff since in a world champion everyone is good.
“I want to be a champion and even break a women’s 800m world record like Rudisha did in the men’s and I believe I can because I have good times,” Wambui stated.
Another promising champion Barnabas Kipyego, who sustained Kenya’s 3000m steeple chase chokehold by claiming gold in 8:25.57, is the latest in a long line of junior champions hoping to dominate the sport like two-time Oympics and three-time Worlds titleholder Ezekiel Kemboi dominate.
Kipyego who retained the title won by Consensus Kipruto in Barcelona two years ago, will debut his senior race at next month’s Stockholm Diamond League.
“The competition went according to our plan and I had to do my best to win the title since this is our event it and also to encourage other athletes to do their best.
“I want to run like Kemboi and hopefully one day I achieve my target of 8:00. I’m looking forward to compete in my first Diamond League which will be a good exposure,” Kipyego announced.
Jonathan Kiplimo also graduated in style by winning men’s 1500m gold in his season’s best of 3:40.02 and for him the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is his dream.
“We gave our best in Oregon and I won gold though I wanted us to finish 1-2 but Abdi Mouhyadin from Djibouti spoiled the party for Hillary Cheruiyot to win bronze.
“If I’m in a good shape I know I can compete well against champions like Asbel Kiprop,” Kiplimo added.
Kenya won 16 medals, four golds, five silver and seven bronze to finish second behind USA, but for head coach Andrew Maritim, it was a good performance displayed by his charges since they improved from Barcelona medal tally by three.
“We prepared well hoping for the best but it was very competitive because there are some events that we were expecting to have gold but we landed on silver and bronze.
“Our aim was to beat USA at the top but his time round it was technical because they were at home and entered a big team of 61 compared to ours 26 with a lot of their medals coming from field events compared to us where we had no athlete.
“I’m optimistic we will beat them one day since we have done it before,” Maritim said.
Kenya’s Rudisha, who set a blistering world record when winning Olympic gold in London in 2012, will go in the 800m against arch-rival Nijel Amos of Botswana.
“I’m happy to have qualified through the heat and the semi-finals. I am looking forward to the final. The final is my main competition and I am looking forward to it,” said Rudisha.
In the absence of Usain Bolt, Jamaica’s world silver and Olympic bronze medallist Warren Weir and teammates Jason Livermore and Rasheed Dwyer will be hoping to emulate Kemar Bailey-Cole’s victory in the men’s 100m.
The men’s 400m hurdles also features a strong line-up for the final, with Jehue Gordon gunning for Trinidad and Tobago’s first track gold, but with South African Cornel Fredericks looking strong.
There are also finals in the men’s discus, while the women also have the 400m hurdles and discus.
Australia’s Olympic champion Pearson will be hoping to put the controversy over suspended head coach Eric Hollingsworth behind her when she takes to the track for heats in the 100m hurdles.
Hollingsworth was suspended Wednesday after disparaging comments about the star hurdler missing a pre-Games training camp.
The focus for cycling turns to the road with the individual time trial.
As the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Scotland’s David Millar will be looking to defend that title over the 40km circuit around Glasgow and surrounding areas.
This marks his final season as a professional cyclist and he will be determined to finish his career in style.
His chances have been boosted by the absence of Bradley Wiggins’ name on the start sheet after the former Tour de France winner opted to focus on the track, where he won silver in the Team pursuit for England.
- Millar is time trial favourite -
Millar will face tough opposition from Alex Dowsett of England, who took silver in Dehli four years ago, and Welsh rider Geraint Thomas who arrives in Scotland on the back of claiming his highest ever finish of 22nd in the Tour de France.
Australian trio of Rohan Dennis, Luke Durbridge and Michael Hepburn will also be among the favourites for the title.
New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen, who has been consistently winning medals on the road for the past five years, is the favourite to claim the women’s title.
Hoping to overhaul her are England’s Emma Pooley, who was recently crowned the British national champion for a third time, Scotland’s Katie Archibald, who claimed a bronze on the track in the women’s points race, and Welsh rider Elinor Barker.
In all 25 golds are up for grabs on Thursday.
The Belgium international was snapped up by the Blues from Anderlecht in 2011, but has spent the past two season out on loan, first with West Brom and then at Everton.
The 21-year-old had been impressive during both stints, most notably with the Toffees last term as his 15 Premier League goals helped the side to a fifth-placed finish and a spot in the Europa League.
The Merseysiders have since secured the forward’s services on a permanent basis in a club record £28 million deal this week, and when asked why he would allow such a talented footballer to depart Stamford Bridge, Mourinho claimed it was down to his attitude towards his perceived entitlement in the squad.
“The thinking behind the move was the fact that Romelu was always very clear with us, in his mentality, in his approach, he was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation at Chelsea,” said Mourinho.
“He wanted to play for Chelsea but he wanted to be clearly the first choice striker, which in a club of our dimension, it is very difficult to promise to a player.
“That reduced immediately his desire to come to us. Everton came in with an important offer. It is the reality of our club that we want to do things really well and to always be inside the rules (of the Financial Fair Play regulations).
Stevan Jovetic scored twice for Manchester City, but Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling answered for Liverpool in the clash between last season’s top two teams in the English Premier League.
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool dominated in the shootout, with two saves from Simon Mignolet.
Montenegro’s Jovetic opened the scoring in the 53rd minute after a defensive miscue from Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard.
Jesus Navas had fired a cross from the right and Gerrard was unable to block it. The ball trickled through his legs and Jovetic pounced to fire it home.
Henderson equalized six minutes later with a fine finish after solid work from Sterling and Daniel Sturridge.
But Jovetic restored the Premier League champions’ lead in the 67th.
It was the second match in a row that Jovetic scored two for the Premier League champions. He netted a brace in Sunday’s 5-1 friendly triumph over Italy’s AC Milan in Pittsburgh.
England international Sterling knotted the score at 2-2 in the 85th with a well-taken strike — and had a goal disallowed in injury time for offside.
After a lively performance throughout, Manchester City were lackluster in the shoot-out, with Aleksandar Kolarov, Yaya Toure and Navas all failing to convert from the spot.
The match drew a crowd of 49,653 to Yankee Stadium.
Manchester City are the majority owners, along with storied Major League Baseball franchise the Yankees, of Major League Soccer expansion club New York City Football Club, which is slated to begin play in 2015 at the baseball ground in the Bronx.
On the night, however, Liverpool fans outnumbered City supporters at the match which was part of the International Champions Cup — a friendly tournament featuring eight European clubs all preparing for the start of their domestic campaigns.
Manchester City had the better of possession in the scoreless first half, but Liverpool had arguably the best chance to score when Rickie Lambert’s header from point-blank range was denied by City keeper Willy Caballero.
The world’s fastest man accused The Times newspaper of “creating lies to make headlines” after it reported he rubbished the 2014 Games while waiting for a car outside the athletes’ village.
Asked he was having a good time in Glasgow, the Jamaican sprint star replied “not really” and said that the London 2012 Olympics “were better”, according to The Times.
But Bolt’s manager called the claims “rubbish” and the athlete himself took to Twitter to deny the report.
“I’m waking up to this nonsense… journalist please don’t create lies to make headlines,” he wrote.
The six-time Olympic gold medallist is due to make his first appearance in the Commonwealth Games at the 4×100 metres heats on Friday, with the final on Saturday.
Organisers are already reeling from the withdrawal of top stars including double Olympic champion runner Mo Farah, cyclist Mark Cavendish and London 2012 heptathlon heroine Jessica Ennis-Hill, while Bolt will only appear in the relay event.
A Commonwealth Games Federation spokesman brushed off the reports, saying: “The Glasgow Games have so far been fantastic and everyone there, including the competing athletes, seems to be having a brilliant time.”
Bolt’s manager Ricky Simms earlier told the BBC that the reports were “utter rubbish”.
“The atmosphere in and around the stadiums has been absolutely fantastic and I have absolutely no idea where these quotes have come from,” he added.
Bolt arrived in Glasgow on Saturday, and endured an uncomfortable press conference in which he was asked questions about the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the Scottish independence debate.
Since then he has largely kept a low profile, but on Tuesday met Prince William, his wife Catherine and his brother Prince Harry.
Hernandez’s future at Old Trafford has been uncertain for much of the past two season, being utilised mainly off the bench under both Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes.
The Mexican started just six Premier League games last season and is expected to be courted by a number of club’s during the off-season, with former team-mate Nemanja Vidic urging new club Inter Milan to make a move for the 25-year-old.
And while Simeone admitted Hernandez would better their strike force, the Argentine tactician stopped short of confirming a move for the Mexico international.
“We speak to the sporting directors, we gave them the ideas on the type of players we want and then they get the players,” Simeone told reporters.
“With Javier Hernandez and plenty of other great players, anything is possible. We can’t close the door to anyone until the transfer window closes.
“He is a vertical player, great in one on one situations, he’s a great option for any team.”
Hernandez also remained coy on a potential move to the Vicente Calderon, telling reporters: “I don’t know what’s going to happen, only God knows. I just have to keep working.”
The Porto Alegre club took to its Twitter feed to confirm the appointment.
Scolari has already coached the club twice before in 1987 and from 1993 to 1996.
He led Gremio to the Copa Libertadores crown in 1995 and the Brazilian championship a year later.
The 65-year-old, who was replaced as Brazil coach by Dunga, endured a miserable World Cup as his side were humiliated 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals before losing 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place play-off.
However, he was the coach who led Brazil to their last World Cup triumph in 2002 in Japan and South Korea.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) had offered him an extension, but according to daily newspaper La Nacion’s website, Sabella “has told Julio Grondona (AFA president) that he won’t continue as coach”.
The 59-year-old took Argentina to the World Cup final in July, where they lost 1-0 to Germany after extra-time.
He had taken over from Sergio Batista after Argentina’s dire Copa America showing on home soil in 2011, where they reached only the quarter-finals.
An AFA spokesperson refused to comment on the reports to AFP, indicating only that Sabella will hold a press conference at the national team’s training centre in Ezeiza, near Buenos Aires, at 1900GMT on Wednesday.
Two days before the World Cup final Sabella’s agent said he would not extend his contract while the coach himself said he would only make a decision after the tournament in Brazil.
Several names have been touted by Argentine press as potential replacements, including former Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino, Colombia coach Jose Pekerman and current Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone.
Scouting striker talent for an English Premier League season only 18 days away, Van Gaal gave Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Zaha and Japan’s Shinji Kagawa a look in the second half and kept Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, reportedly being eyed for a transfer deal to Inter, on the bench until late.
“I am very pleased,” Van Gaal said. “I think we played by far the best match of our sequence of three.”
United, which debuted new blue uniforms, began the US pre-season tour with a 7-0 romp over the host Los Angeles Galaxy last Wednesday and edged AS Roma 3-2 at Denver three days ago.
As a crowd of 61,238 watched, Inter’s Marco Andreolli slammed a shot off the crossbar in the shootout to leave United ahead 4-3 and United captain Darren Fletcher followed by kicking home the decider.
“Fletcher hit the post in training so it’s also a little bit of luck, but we deserved the victory, I think,” Van Gaal said.
Hernandez, Ashley Young, Tom Cleverly and Shinji Kagawa also scored in the shootout for United, which continues the American tour Saturday against Real Madrid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where a US record football crowd of more than 100,000 is expected.
Chants for “Chicharito” were rewarded with striker Javier Hernandez’s insertion by Van Gaal in the 78th minute.
Fredy Guarin, the Colombian midfielder for Inter who has been linked to a possible transfer deal for Hernandez, entered in the 84th minute.
Guarin blasted a free kick in the 85th minute that forced a leaping right-handed save by United second-half goalkeeper David De Gea.
All Van Gaal would say of Hernandez was “He’s a player of Manchester United at this moment.”
On Kagawa, whom the manager has tested at finisher and playmaker roles, Van Gaal said he was pleased with his forward work.
“He did it much better than in the two matches before,” Van Gaal said.
Zaha, a 21-year-old winger and former Crystal Palace standout, took the field in the second half hoping to prove he could help the club and missed his best shot on the short side in the 90th minute.
“I played all right. I’m happy,” Zaha said. “It’s not as much fun as being a winger but I’ll take it.
“There’s so much pressure on me. Every chance you get you have to take. There are so many players here.”
Van Gaal liked what he saw from Zaha.
“I was pleased with his performance,” Van Gaal said. “We have to see and wait — he has a lot of competition with the other strikers.”
Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie are among those who could push Zaha into a loan, transfer or sale but the African says he wants to stay and that Van Gaal has made him better.
“He’s a good manager,” Zaha said. “He will help me discover what I can do.
“All I have done is what he has asked. I’ve worked hard. That’s what he told me to do. All I can do is work hard. It’s a clean slate for me.
“Last year I made advancements in my game. I just want to play for Manchester United. Hopefully this will be my chance.”
But Zaha is realistic as well.
“Something I’ve learned, if you’re not the manager’s cup of tea then you aren’t,” he said.
United had a reunion of sorts with former captain Nemanja Vidic, now playing for Inter.
The 32-year-old Serbian defender spent eight seasons at Manchester United, serving as captain from 2010 until his contract ended last month and he joined the Italian club.
From six laps of the 25 to go, the race was reduced to an internal competition between the pair and two-time World Cross champion, Emily Chebet, but at the bell all the way to the home-straight, Kiplagat, the two-time Berlin Marathon winner, looked poised to fulfil her favourite role and land the honours.
However, Chepkirui, fifth at the 2010 World Half Marathon Championships had other ideas, keeping close to the 2009 World Cross champion before getting on her inside and picking her pocket for the gold only two steps from the line in a lifetime best of 32:09.35.
Kiplagat, who stumbled across the line and fell took silver in 32:09.58 as Chebet, who had long settled for the third medal confirmed it in 32:10.82, a career best in another imposing distance running masterclass from Kenya.
The beaming Kenyans who received warm applause from the Hampden Park crowd for given them a memorable race went on a lap of honour chuckling about the dramatic climax.
From the onset with Kiplagat playing the role of captain, the Kenyans went out in front and cut the field into two with 15-laps to go with Ugandan pair, Toroitich Chebet and Vanis Chemutai as well as home runner, Beth Potter paying close attention.
The two-time Berlin winner, Chepkirui whose only other medal for Kenya before her crowning moment was 1500m silver at the 2011 All Africa Games and Chebet took turns to push the pace before the home crowd was roused when Potter took charge and led the field until seven and a half laps to go.
Kiplagat led her compatriots to ease past her in a turn of pace that effectively killed the competition and for the next 1200m to the bell, the Kenyans opened the gap between them and the challengers to an insurmountable lead but all bets were off in the final lap.
With 300m, the favourite deployed the afterburners but could not build the significant lead over Chepkirui who hang on her coattails before a trailing runner with 40m to go saw Kiplagat step outside.
That gave the winner a chance to get inside and push for gold, completing the upset when Kiplagat’s lunge to the line only saw her tumble to silver in a breathtaking conclusion.
England’s Kate Avery who motored from the back won a neck-to-neck battle for fourth against Potter with 32:33.35 against 32:33.36, both lifetime bests as the Ugandans Chebet (32:41.95) and Chemutai (33:11.98) coming home further back in sixth and eighth.
Van Gaal, speaking in his first English media interview of United’s tour of the USA, denied the idea that succeeding Moyes would be easier than following Sir Alex Ferguson, who won 13 titles in 26 years at Old Trafford.
In Van Gaal’s eyes, Ferguson left Moyes with a team of winners. He says he is inheriting a “broken” squad awash with attacking midfielders.
“No,” Van Gaal said when asked whether following Ferguson would have been harder.
“I don’t agree. I had to follow Bobby Robson at Barcelona the year after he won three titles and there wasn’t a problem (Van Gaal won the league that year).
“When there is success you have a very good squad, and now I have to follow and the squad was broken I think.
“When you look at the squad, there is quality. There is (Wayne) Rooney, (Robin) van Persie, (Javier) Hernandez, (Danny) Welbeck, but you also see Juan Mata, (Marouane) Fellaini, and you see (Ander) Herrera. There are a lot of players that can play in the same position.
“It is not in balance. It’s more difficult to succeed in a difficult situation than in a fantastic situation.”
Van Gaal will look to address the imbalance in his squad by signing at least two players over the next three weeks — rumoured to be Thomas Vermaelen and Mats Hummels.
Rumours linking Thomas Vermaelen with a move to Old Trafford refuse to go away.
United have been told they will have to stump up 79 million pounds to sign other target Kevin Strootman from Roma while Real Madrid are also demanding a big fee for Angel Di Maria, who is also on the club’s radar.
Meanwhile, Van Gaal insists he will not get drawn into any mind-games with Jose Mourinho this season and he says he still regards the Chelsea manager as his “friend”.
Mourinho controversially claimed earlier this week that United were paying over the odds for Luke Shaw, a 27 million pound signing from Southampton who reportedly now earns in the region of 100,000 thousand pounds a week.
Louis van Gaal insists that his relationship with Jose Mourinho is as good as ever.
Mourinho said had Chelsea paid that kind of money to the 19-year-old, it would have “killed” the London club.
United boss Van Gaal hinted he would speak privately to Mourinho about the matter. Many saw that as a sign the two former colleagues were set for a rocky relationship this season.
Mourinho, who worked as Van Gaal’s assistant at Barcelona for three years, has a record of trying to wind up fellow managers.
But Van Gaal is sure he will have a harmonious relationship with the Portuguese manager this term even though both he and his former protege are in charge of teams vying for the title.
“I don’t think I will fall out with him. He is my friend,” Van Gaal said of Mourinho.
United play the third game of their US tour against Inter Milan in Washington DC on Tuesday night.
-by ESPN FC
Galatasaray will be seeking to make a major impact in the Champions League this season after signing former Italy football manager Cesare Prandelli as their new coach.
“Sneijder is going to stay with Galatasaray,” said Galatasaray president Unal Aysal, quoted by Turkish media.
“It’s not just our opinion but that of Cesare Prandelli and the player. There can be no talk of a split between us.
“He had a tiring season and right afterwards he played at the World Cup. He will rejoin us after the holidays,” he added.
Aysal had previously said that the club was willing to sell Sneijder if another club was willing to cough up for a 20-million-euro ($26.8m) release clause.
Sneijder, who joined Galatasaray in 2013 from Inter Milan, had been linked with a move to Ligue 1 side Monaco or English giants Manchester United or Chelsea.
“I am very happy and delighted a club as big as Liverpool showed interest in me. I’m very excited,” Origi told the Liverpool website.
“I know it’s a club with a great history, great fans and a lot of great players. For me, Liverpool is one of the greatest clubs in the world and I’m very excited to be part of this great history.”
Origi travelled to the United States, where Liverpool are on a pre-season tour, in order to complete the deal. Liverpool did not disclose the length of his contract.
After a breakthrough campaign with Lille in 2013-14, Origi impressed for Belgium at the World Cup, scoring an 88th-minute winner against Russia in the group phase to send his team into the last 16.
Origi is Liverpool’s fifth close-season signing, following the arrivals of the former Southampton trio of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, and Dejan Lovren, and German midfielder Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen.
While the teenager will have to wait at least a year before making his Liverpool debut, he is already excited about the prospect of becoming a part of manager Brendan Rodgers’s side.
“The fact we have a young team and can grow is the most exciting part,” he said.
“With the coach we have, he’s a great manager who can handle a young team. He’s said a lot of good things about Liverpool and told me it’s the perfect club for me.
“This year I’ll have a chance to play at European level, in the Europa League or Champions League.”
Liverpool narrowly lost out to Manchester City in the battle for last season’s Premier League title.
They start the 2014-15 season at home to Southampton on August 17.
Local media reported that Juventus forward was flying home from Italy in response to the situation.
Police sources cited in the reports said the kidnappers have demanded money from the family for the release of Segundo Tevez.
“The family is concerned. We have to wait now to see how events unfold,” Gustavo Galasso, a lawyer for the family, told reporters outside their home in Villa Devoto.
The victim was reported to have been intercepted Tuesday morning while driving his car in an area in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The car was found abandoned several hours later, according to the media reports.
Argentine federal police received a 911 call from the football player’s sister-in-law, the reports said.
Segundo Tevez is married to Tevez’s mother. The football player was a child when his biological father died.
The 16-year-old Amalaha provided an ‘A’ sample on July 25 which revealed traces of diuretics and masking agents.
She will have a ‘B’ sample tested at a laboratory in London on July 30.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper said: “We [have] issued a formal notice of disclosure to an athlete following an adverse analytical finding as a consequence of an in-competition test.
“That athlete is Nigerian weightlifter Chika Amalaha who was tested on July 25th. That athlete has now been suspended from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”
Amalaha snatched a best of 85kg before managing 111kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 196kg, to become the youngest Commonwealth weightlifter gold medallist.
It was the first doping case of the Glasgow Games and will likely once again call into question the legitimacy of weightlifting as a Commonwealth Games sport given its history of drug-related incidents.
Hooper though insisted that the sport had its place in multi-sport events.
“I think weightlifting is a fantastic sport and a strong Commonwealth and Olympic sport,” he said.
“I think the issue here is about showing we have a robust anti-doping programme in place. We want to send a message to anybody in any sport who would go down the route of taking any substance to enhance performance that they will be caught.”
Nigerian weightlifting also has a history of drugs offences.
The Nigerian Weightlifting Federation was suspended for repeated doping violations by the International Weightlifting Federation in 2001 and banned from competing in the following year’s Manchester Games.
Kenya will have her trio of two-lap runners in Wednesday’s semis as hopes of replicating the podium sweep in Delhi remain alive after Ferguson Rotich and Evans Kipkorir joined Rudisha in qualifying.
The world record holder set the fastest qualifying time of 1:46.89 to underline his favourite status in the preliminary round.
“Today was all about qualifying for the second round tomorrow,” said Rudisha, whose staggering 800m run in just shy of 101 seconds was the stand-out performance on the track at the 2012 London Olympics.
“I tried to reserve as much energy as possible,” he said, adding: “I’m very happy to be here. I only started training in March. It’s been a tough year and I know I’m going to struggle, but my focus is next year.
“That said, this is not the Diamond League, this is a championship,” the Daegu 2011 Worlds and two-time Africa champion told AFP.
Rotich, a gold medal winner at the Bahamas World Relays for Kenya in March, finished second in Heat 3 with 1:48.70 on the clock while Kipkorir finished third in the next race in 1:50.88 behind Olympics silver winner from Botswana, Nijel Amos; another medal favourite.
Boaz Lalang led cousins Richard Kiplagat and Abraham Kiplagat to the clean sweep in Delhi with the three medallist not making Glasgow.
Former national champion, Florence Wasike crashed out of the women 400m Hurdles after finishing last in her heat in 52.29.
Earlier on the track adds Agence France Presse, the men’s 110m hurdles was blown wide open when England’s defending champion Andy Turner pulled up and Jamaica’s Olympic bronze medallist Hansle Parchment was a non-starter.
Turner was off-kilter out of the blocks, clipped the first two hurdles and pulled up before stumbling into the third to bring a premature, and angry, end to his Games’ participation.
“I got too close to the first hurdle and hit the second one and that was it,” said Turner, also a world bronze medallist from Daegu in 2011.
“It was a schoolboy error. I’m gutted as I have been training well coming into the Games.”
With Parchment failing to even make it to the start line, the field has now been opened up, and Jamaica’s Andrew Riley, Barbadian 2009 world champion Ryan Brathwaite and England’s William Sharman will all fancy their chances in the final at Hampden Park later Tuesday.
Canada’s Damian Warner remained atop the decathlon as teammate and world silver medallist Brianne Thiesen-Eaton kicked off the heptathlon as massive favourite.
Warner, with an overnight score of 4378 points, raced the 110m hurdles in an impressive 13.50 seconds and managed a season’s best of 41.31m in the discus to sit on 6109pts with just the pole vault, javelin and 1500m to come.