Torres to be unveiled today

Fernando Torres will be unveiled as Liverpool’s record signing today as boss Rafael Benitez takes his spending to an amazing £121m in his three years at Anfield.

Benitez celebrated his third anniversary as manager of the Merseysiders last month, and the arrival of Torres will take his outlay on five strikers alone to £55m.

The Spanish coach has been quick to criticise the supposed lack of funds at Anfield to allow him to compete with the financial muscle of Chelsea, but his three year spending spree is the biggest in the club’s history.

Torres, at £26.5m, will be the big summer signing Benitez believes will fire Liverpool into a title-challenging position.

And the 23-year-old, who passed a medical last night, will be the man under pressure to produce the 20 goals a season tally crucial to a title-chasing side.

He will certainly be expected to do better than Benitez’s previous striking purchases. Fernando Morientes (£6m), Craig Bellamy (£6m), Dirk Kuyt (£9m) and Peter Crouch (£7m) have all failed to provide the dynamic goals-per-game ratio Benitez craves.

But with Torres on board, the manager now knows excuses will not be tolerated next term if a title challenge fails to materialise.

Of that £121m splashed out since he arrived in June 2004, £70m has been spent on purchases from La Liga, and Liverpool’s new American owners – Tom Hicks and George Gillett – will be looking for an end product.

Benitez certainly believes Torres is the key. Following yesterday’s successful medical, the Atletico Madrid youth product flew back to Madrid for a farewell media conference this morning.

He will then return to Liverpool to meet the English media as he finally puts pen to paper on a six-year £90,000-a-week deal.

Last night, a Liverpool spokesman said: “The player has passed a medical. All the agreements are now in place and he will put pen to paper on the deal on Wednesday.”

But there was probably no doubt that Torres, despite weeks of intrigue, would end up at Anfield. In May, he hit the headlines when he revealed the words ’You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on the inside of his captain’s armband during a match against Real Sociedad.

When he completes his move to Anfield today, he will leave Atletico with a record of 82 goals in 214 league appearances.