Hodgson still unsure over Torres' future

| Friday July 23, 2010 00:00

Hodgson received a welcome boost earlier this week when Reds' captain Steven Gerrard made it clear he is happy to commit his future to Liverpool. But Torres has yet to follow Gerrard's example and publicly declare that he wants to remain on Merseyside.

It has been reported the former Atletico Madrid star was disenchanted with Liverpool's poor form last season and the team's failure to qualify for the Champions League provided him with another reason to think about leaving. Chelsea and Manchester City are both ready to pay over 50 million pounds for Torres, who has been in contact only with Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow, leaving Hodgson to anxiously await updates.

'Christian Purslow has been talking to Fernando Torres for the last two days so I think there has probably been lots of words from Fernando Torres but I haven't actually spoken to him,' Hodgson told Sky Sports News.

'It was a major day the other day with the signing of Joe Cole in tandem with Steven Gerrard committing his future to the club.'Hopefully that will soon be followed by Fernando Torres and then we can start thinking about one or two other signings that we would like to bring in to strengthen the squad even more.

'Then we can start hopefully on Monday meet a percentage of the players who played in the World Cup and start getting down to some serious work.'(Sky Sports News)