Record Fee Sends Torres to Chelsea

 

 

The Spanish forward Fernando Torres joined Chelsea on Monday for a British-record fee said to be 50 million pounds, or $79.5 million, as big-spending English clubs concluded a record-breaking spending spree during the January transfer window.
More than 215 million pounds, or $345 million, was spent in the month by Premier League teams, breaking the previous high of 181 million pounds ($290 million) in 2009.

Chelsea was also ready to spend a reported 25 million pounds ($40 million) to sign the Brazilian defender David Luiz from Benfica of Portugal.

Chelsea’s outlay of about 75 million pounds Monday came on the same day it announced losses of 70.9 million pounds last season, despite winning the Premier League and the F.A. Cup.

Torres’s move from Liverpool is the third-most expensive transfer in the soccer history, bettered only by Real Madrid’s 2009 purchases of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for 80 million pounds ($131 million) and Kaká from A.C. Milan for 65 million euros ($92 million). It is similar to the fee received by Inter Milan when it sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona in 2009, a deal that sent Samuel Eto’o to Inter.

Liverpool replaced Torres by breaking the club’s transfer record twice within a few hours to acquire Andy Carroll from Newcastle and Luis Suarez from Ajax for a combined fee of 58 million pounds.

Previous transfers this month sent Edin Dzeko to Manchester City from Wolfsburg for about 27 million pounds ($42 million) and Darren Bent to Aston Villa from Sunderland for a fee that could rise to 24 million pounds ($38.5 million).

Among Americans, midfielder Michael Bradley was lent to Aston Villa from Germany’s Borussia Moenchengladbach until the end of the season; forward Robbie Findley received international clearance to sign with the second-tier English club Nottingham Forest; and forward Jozy Altidore was lent from Villarreal in Spain to the defending Turkish champion, Bursaspor, for the rest of the season.

“Michael is a very hard-working midfielder who can score goals and is versatile,” Villa Manager Gerard Houllier said of Bradley. “I saw him play four times at the World Cup in South Africa. I saw him once on TV, but four times at the games for the national team, so in terms of scouting you cannot say the work has not been done.”

U.S. GAME IN CAIRO CANCELED The United States national team canceled its Feb. 9 exhibition against Egypt in Cairo because of the political turmoil there. The United States team’s next games will be March 26 against Argentina at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and March 29 against Paraguay in Nashville.