Injury Ends Manchester City's Pursuit of Fernando Torres

Manchester City have pulled out of the race to sign Liverpool's World Cup winning Spanish striker Fernando Torres, leaving Chelsea as the only suitors for "El Nino."

Torres injured himself in the dying moments of the Final in South Africa and will be out for over a month, and the City negotiation team has moved to other targets fearing they will not get their money's worth by taking such a risk on the injury-prone Spaniard.

Torres is now likely to stay at Anfield for another season, as Chelsea are unwilling to step up to Liverpool's dizzying £50 million valuation for the Spaniard. The Blues are only willing to pay around the £30 million mark, as they believe David Villa's £34 million move to Barcelona represents the real value of the market.

City have now moved to snap up Mario Balotelli for £23 million from Internazionale, who are keen to sell the controversial young Italian.

City are also looking to tie up deals for James Milner and Aleksandar Kolarov, but are likely to miss out on Edin Dzeko as the Bosnian has become fed up of waiting for a concrete proposal from the Blues and has had his head turned by Juventus.

Liverpool meanwhile are fighting to keep hold of Javier Mascherano. Mascherano is the interest of former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez at Inter, who wants to bring the Argentine to the San Siro for £25 million.

Roy Hodgson is keen to keep hold of his talisman however, as Liverpool's threadbare midfield struggled last season and Hodgson will not be able to pick up a like-for-like replacement. The Anfield club have however approached City in regards to a possible transfer of their defenders Wayne Bridge and Micah Richards, as well as Jermaine Jenas from Tottenham.