Fergie - We Wanted Torres. (July 31, 2007)
Alex Ferguson admits Manchester United had shown interest in Liverpool's new acquisition, Fernando Torres, in the past.

The Spanish star penned a six-year deal at Liverpool earlier this summer after joining from Atletico Madrid for a fee thought to be in the region of ฃ20million.

And Ferguson claims that while he wasn't in the running to net the 23-year-old this time around, his club had come close to signing him in previous years.

He told Inside United magazine: "The Fernando Torres transfer was interesting. He's a player we have enquired about a couple of times over the years but when it came to the crunch he would sign a new contract or other things would happen and a deal never materialised.

"We didn't pursue our interest this summer and if he's gone for ฃ20 million or so then that is a fair price for him - but he was on huge money in Madrid. I think also the fact that Rafael Benitez is Spanish may have helped Liverpool conclude the deal."

However Ferguson is also excited about the prospects for his new signings, Nani and Anderson.

He added: "They're both young, developing players for the future. Nani and Anderson are terrific talents who are just embarking on their careers. They're both very quick and simply love playing football.

"We've known about Nani for a long time. When we signed Ronaldo, he was the next player in Sporting Lisbon's set-up that we were keeping an eye on - he was playing centre forward for their youth team at the time.

"However, he can play wide on both sides, he's quick and athletic and has a terrific attitude.

"Anderson is another fantastic talent; he can play centre midfield or in the middle in attack. We've taken a bit of a risk because he broke his leg last year but we thought if he starts the season at Porto it won't be long before everyone wants him, so we decided to do the deal now.

"We've spent a fair bit of money on then but I think the deals are good value. They'll give us terrific attacking options because Ji-sung Park won't be available until February. We missed his energy in the run-in so the new lads help to fill that void."