Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Liverpool legend Alan Kennedy says 'the best is yet to come' from Fernando Torres

Kop favourite also hopes new owners 'have interests of club at heart'...


Fernando Torres


Former Liverpool defender Alan Kennedy has hailed the decision of Fernando Torres to stay at Anfield, saying the Spain striker is a 'key part' of the Reds' future and that he expects him to further improve in years to come.

Kennedy, who won six league titles and two European Cups during a stellar career at the club, was more cautiously optimistic over Kenny Huang's proposed takeover of the club, saying that he simply hoped the winning bidder from the several mooted interested parties would be 'someone who has the interests of the club at heart'.

Speaking about Torres' announcement that he would remain at Anfield, Kennedy said he was pleased, but not taken aback, by the news.

"He's very much a key part of it [the future]," the former left-back told Goal.com UK.

"You felt as though he's always wanted to be at the club. it's not a surprise that he's said it, but it's nice that he's come out and said it."

The Reds' star striker has formed a unique bond with the Anfield faithful since his 2007 arrival from Atletico Madrid, something not lost on Kennedy. "Yes, the bond has always been there," he said. "He's a nice guy. He will hopefully stay a long, long time."

Kennedy, who scored the winner against Real Madrid in 1981 which clinched Liverpool's third European crown, thinks Torres will get even better, despite his astonishing development since arriving in the Premier League.

"He's grown into a top-class forward in the time he's been here," he noted. "The Premier League has helped him improve, and I feel there's a lot more to come from him."

Somewhat less clear is the future of the club itself. Though owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are widely believed to be in advanced talks with Chinese businessman Huang about selling the club, rumours are abound of other bidders on the horizon.

"I'm hearing stories about five or six bids been looked at by [chairman] Martin Broughton," Kennedy said. "It's about trying to figure out what is beneficial to the club."

The 55-year-old hopes that whoever the new owners are, they are in for the long haul rather than short-term profiteering. "We need to move on. It's important to get a new stadium built - we've been talking about it for five or six years now, and we need it to satisfy demand. Clearly they [Hicks and Gillett] went to the banks and said they wouldn't borrow the money [to buy the club], but did anyway."

The former Kop idol said he understood the fans' ire towards the current incumbents and thinks the club have to move on quickly for their sakes: "You've seen how much it's affected the fans, with the formation of the Spirit of Shankly and like-minded groups."

Kennedy also believes this pressure could be a major motivation in Hicks and Gillett's seeming willingness to drop their sizeable price tag on the club.

"Maybe they are a little tired of what's going on," he noted.

"They were talking about asking £600-700m for the club but those figures seem to have come down. They have other business interests elsewhere so maybe they'll turn their attention to those."

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