Portsmouth will be demoted from the Premier League this month, and its players will be put up for sale immediately after the final, against the Premier League’s top club, Chelsea, on May 15. The continued existence of a club representing the navy town of Portsmouth on England’s south coast is by no means guaranteed, even in a less glamorous, less well-heeled, lower league.
Even at the pinnacle of the Premier League, the clubs are spending money they don’t have. Manchester United and Liverpool are owned by Americans who borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars before the banking collapse and who cunningly (from their perspective) made the clubs liable for those debts.
A new challenger, Manchester City, was owned first by the exiled former prime minister of Thailand and now by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. Manchester City’s biggest match of the season is Wednesday, when it plays Tottenham Hotspur. If Tottenham wins, it will finish fourth. If City wins, it will probably finish fourth.
If City wins, there is talk that it will pay whatever it takes to get Fernando Torres from Liverpool. He is injured, and has been for much of the season. Torres is the most potent striker in England — some would say in the world — so his transfer value would be anything the buyer and seller deem it to be. Rumours are rife this morning with the newsthat Chelsea are looking to catch the money men at Manchester City cold to beat them to the signing of Fernando Torres.It’s no secret that Torres is disappointed, like all Liverpool players and fans, with their form in the Premier League this season. With Champions League football a distant memory next season, with the future of Rafa Benitez up in the air and also the future of Liverpool in doubt in the hands of their American owners, it could be the time for Torres to move on as he looks for honours.
That could be as much as 80 million pounds, about $121.5 million. Torres could command an annual salary of $15 million. If Torres goes, Rafael Benítez, his fellow Spaniard, will probably go as well. The manager at an English club is responsible not just for tactics and team selection, but also for buying and selling players. Since Benítez arrived six years ago, he has made 48 major signings — spending more than $350 million — and sold 59 players, for about $220 million.
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