I’M not suggesting that Fernando Torres would make any noises abut wanting to leave Liverpool. He loves the club, the fans and desperately wants to succeed at Anfield.

But the facts are inescapable. There’s a World Cup this year and chances are he will be one of the star players in one of the best teams in the tournament.

And once its over, what then? Can anyone seriously believe that a player in that class won’t be in the Champions League next season?

It’s looking more and more likely that Liverpool won’t finish in the top four this season and that’s when you have to start worrying about their ability to hold on to players like Torres.

A good World Cup will probably push his value up to around £50-60million.

Even in the highly unlikely event of that not being enough to persuade a debt-ridden club to part with him, the players have all the power now anyway.

Torres might not want to go, but if he’s stuck in the Europa League next year, is it not reasonable to assume he might feel he’s not fulfilling his potential?

He turned 26 on Saturday. Does he really want to be wasting a year when he could be at the peak of his powers by not playing in the world’s top club competition?

I’m not suggesting for a second that he would end up at Manchester United. But he must have looked at their side on Sunday and imagined what he would do in a team like that.

Let’s face it, Torres would score 45 goals if he was playing for United because they would play to his strengths.