Chelsea to pursue injured Torres

Liverpool: Chelsea says it will step up their pursuit of Fernando Torres after sensing his latest injury setback could enhance their prospects of prising him away from Anfield.

Tests in Spain confirmed that Torres had torn a thigh muscle in last Sunday's World Cup final.

Liverpool's medical staff were to fly out to examine him in the next 48 hours before handing him fitness guidelines for his forthcoming holiday.

Initial estimates of a three-week recovery period left new manager Roy Hodgson pondering whether to try to rush him back for the start of the new season or allow him time to build up his strength and fitness on the training pitch.

It is a dilemma that frequently troubled his predecessor, Rafa Benitez, yet Chelsea said they aimed to present it as one of their main arguments for convincing Torres that his future lay at Stamford Bridge.

While Liverpool have often restored Torres to their starting line-up at the earliest opportunity — and seen him suffer a recurrence of an old injury — Chelsea said they would spell out their intention of using him far more sparingly.

Anfield bosses indicated they were mindful of the risks involved in bringing him back too soon as they supervised his latest recuperation and said they had already begun work on his conditioning by drawing up a list of fitness routines for his three-week break.

Positive start

Equally, they could ill-afford to be without their one world-class finisher any longer than necessary as they strove to banish the memory of last season's failings by making a positive start to the new Barclays Premier League campaign.

And with that in mind, Liverpool's new head of sports science and medicine Peter Brukner hinted on Wednesday that Torres could yet make the Premier League opener against Arsenal at Anfield on August 15. "The MRI scan confirmed a small tear," he said.

"Fernando should be able to resume training within two to three weeks and be able to play again within three to four weeks."

There has been a feeling Liverpool's over-reliance on Torres' goals has added to his mounting frustration.

And Chelsea indicated they planned to exploit it by stressing he would be under nothing like as much pressure at Stamford Bridge.

With the likes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka already shouldering the goal-scoring burden, manager Carlo Ancelotti said he was ready to assure Torres he could count on maximum recovery time in the event of any injury.

Whether Chelsea are willing to match what Liverpool might consider an acceptable fee remains to be seen, and even that hinges on Torres weighing his loyalty and affection for Liverpool against a wish to be surrounded by players of comparable quality.

Record signing

Liverpool has insisted any approach would be rebuffed but said they were ready, reluctantly, to soften their stance, should their £21 million record signing ask to leave.

As he started yet another battle with injury, talking him out of an exit looks like presenting Hodgson with a formidable early challenge.

This is even if a fee in excess of £50 million would be ploughed back into his transfer budget and arm him with sizeable funds for reinforcements.