Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez was coy yesterday over his pursuit of Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres.

Although the Madrid club officially played down talk of an imminent move on Friday, a spokesman insisted that no deal had been agreed "but things might change," privately they have accepted that the 23-year-old wants to leave.

Benitez did nothing on Friday to deny that a deal is close when he said: "All I can say is that Fernando Torres is one of the players we have looked at."

But after the first week of pre-season training, Benitez clearly believes that his top target is within his grasp.

He said: "You must always be excited at the start of a new season. You must also have confidence in your team and hopefully we will soon bring in the new players that we want to make the squad better.

"We are working on new signings all the time. As I've already said, the spine of the team is in place and now we just need to add to that."