FERNANDO TORRES NOW FAVOURED TO LEAVE LIVERPOOL: BETFAIR

After Roy Hodgson’s admission that Fernando Torres has a “beef” with Liverpool, you could almost hear the odds on Betfair collapsing. It’s been a fairly wild and woolly market since it debuted back at the end of the season. For quite some time you would have found very slim odds on Torres to stay, especially after his injury that effectively will rule him out for a few weeks.

As it currently stands, the volume has been increasing all day in the Torres to Stay market and shows no signs of slowing down. You can grab odds of around 2.16 on him to stay, at the time of this writing. Torres to leave (or the “no” option) is priced at around 1.81 and seems to be holding steady there.
At one point, several bookmakers even stopped taking bets on Torres leaving- that’s just how locked up it all seemed to be.
Betfair has the definitive say, in my opinion, on just how likely Torres is to move but the latest odds released from Skybet show him odds-on for a switch to Premier League champions Chelsea. You can back Torres to join Chelsea by the end of the 2010 Summer Transfer Window at a very slim 1/2 price tag.
The Spanish striker is priced at 5/2 to move to Manchester City and 10/1 for a trip to Barcelona. Real Madrid are priced at 16/1 while Inter Milan can be backed at 20/1 alongside Manchester United.
Personally, I think Torres may just want out of the Premier League. I wouldn’t want to face the ire of the Kop when I turned back up at Anfield in a blue uniform. I think Real Madrid would probably be an ideal location for Torres and a great place to build his brand. I don’t see him as that much of a mercenary so he isn’t likely to go to City. Either way, it looks like he’s on the way out and I get the feeling that some Liverpool fans may take it on the chin, as a sale of Torres could potentially finance the spending spree that Hodgson needs to turn this side back into Champions League contenders.