New Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has come out fighting in a bid to quell speculation about Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard’s future and is determined that they are not for sale at any price.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona have all been linked with Torres while Gerrard continues to be linked with a mega-million move to Real Madrid.
However, Hodgson manager has poured cold water on the idea that they are leaving.
Speaking at his team's pre-season training camp in Bad Ragaz, he said: "I have met with Fernando. I found him to be a very pleasant man and we had a nice conversation.
"As far as we are concerned he is a Liverpool player and we want him to remain a Liverpool player.
"He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him.
"My conversation with him was only short because I had to leave to come to the training camp in Switzerland.
"We spoke about football, the World Cup, his injury and I told him how much I am looking forward to working with him.
"(Managing director) Christian Purslow was also at the meeting and chatted to Fernando for a lot longer after I left but my chat with him was only about football matters."
Hodgson added: "I have met with Steven and thought the talks were positive.
"We are in a situation where we hear our players are being courted by other teams but it is all just rumours.
"What we haven't had is a club wanting to buy Steven. He is not for sale and I made that clear to him.
"I told him I supported the club's policy that we don't want to sell our best players and have to start building again."
Related links:
Team
Personal
Also see:
Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona have all been linked with Torres while Gerrard continues to be linked with a mega-million move to Real Madrid.
However, Hodgson manager has poured cold water on the idea that they are leaving.
Speaking at his team's pre-season training camp in Bad Ragaz, he said: "I have met with Fernando. I found him to be a very pleasant man and we had a nice conversation.
"As far as we are concerned he is a Liverpool player and we want him to remain a Liverpool player.
"He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him.
"My conversation with him was only short because I had to leave to come to the training camp in Switzerland.
"We spoke about football, the World Cup, his injury and I told him how much I am looking forward to working with him.
"(Managing director) Christian Purslow was also at the meeting and chatted to Fernando for a lot longer after I left but my chat with him was only about football matters."
Hodgson added: "I have met with Steven and thought the talks were positive.
"We are in a situation where we hear our players are being courted by other teams but it is all just rumours.
"What we haven't had is a club wanting to buy Steven. He is not for sale and I made that clear to him.
"I told him I supported the club's policy that we don't want to sell our best players and have to start building again."
Don't forget to check us out on Twitter and Facebook for more soccer updates!
Related links:
Team
Personal
Also see:
