By DPA
London : Spain forward Fernando Torres has passed a medical at Anfield and is expected to be confirmed as a Liverpool player Wednesday. Torres, 23, who will cost a club record 23.5 million pounds, flew back to Madrid for a farewell press conference with Atletico after the tests.
He is expected to sign a six-year contract worth 90,000 pounds a week. Djibril Cisse, who was on loan at Marseille last season, could also join Liverpool in a permanent deal, while Luis Garcia has joined Atletico for 4 million pounds. But with new signing Andriy Voronin and Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt all on the books, another departure looks probable.
******
Cuper signs as Betis coach
Madrid: Hector Cuper is to become the new coach of Spanish first division side Betis. Betis president Pepe Leon confirmed this, saying that "the signing of Hector Cuper was done and that he would certainly be the coach of Betis next season".
The confirmation of Cuper by Betis means that now only four first division clubs – Real Madrid, Getafe, Recreativo Huelva and Athletic Bilbao – are still without a coach for next season. Real, of course, are still waiting for Bernd Schuster to terminate his contract at Getafe, who are planning to replace him with Michael Laudrup.
******
Roma, Real agree over Chivu
Madrid: AS Roma and Real Madrid have reached agreement about Romanian defender Cristian Chivu, according to Italian and Spanish media reports. According to intermediary Roberto Bronzetti, Real will pay Roma 18 million euros for Chivu, who was also sought by Barcelona.
The negotiations took place among Bronzetti, Roma sporting director Daniele Prade and his Real counterpart Pedja Mijatovic. Chivu will become Real's second summer signing. The first was Christoph Metzelder, out of contract at Borussia Dortmund, a left-side defender, the same as Chivu.
******
Mavuba signs for Villarreal
Madrid: Spanish first-division side Villarreal have announced the signing of French midfielder Rio Mavuba from Girondins de Bordeaux. Villarreal will pay around seven million euros for the 23-year-old Frenchman.
Villarreal have already made six signings this summer, to be financed by the sale of South Americans Diego Forlan to Atletico Madrid and of Juan Roman Riquelme, whose destination is yet unknown.