Ancelotti quiet on Torres move

Carlo Ancelotti was giving little away when asked about Chelsea’s pursuit of unsettled Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.

The Spanish international handed in a transfer request at Anfield on Friday after Liverpool rejected a 35 million pound offer from Chelsea for the 26-year-old’s services.

But Liverpool denied Torres’ request and it seems only a greatly improved offer from Chelsea would see him leave Anfield before the transfer window closes on Monday.

But after watching his side draw 1-1 with Everton in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, Ancelotti refused to speculate on whether Chelsea would dip further into their transfer budget to secure Torres.

“I don’t know, we will have to wait. There is no change,” was all the Italian would say when asked on the matter.

The defending champions recovered from a slow start at Goodison Park on Saturday after going behind to Louis Saha’s opener, with Salomon Kalou ensuring a replay with his goal in the 75th minute.

“The result was good also because we were 1-0 down and it was not easy,” Ancelotti said.

“To come back into the game we had good attitude and good spirit. It was not easy – Everton put pressure on us all the time.”

“They were very dangerous on set-pieces, used a lot of long balls and because of the sun we couldn’t play from the back as we did in the first half. We lost control in the second half.”

Everton boss David Moyes was left to rue his sides’ missed opportunities, with only the intervention of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and midfielder Michael Essien denying Leighton Baines from scoring a second-half winner.

“The team played well and I am disappointed we have not gone through,” Moyes said.

“I don’t think you can come away and say Chelsea were really threatening. I thought we looked the side who were more likely to score than Chelsea.”

“It all roughly hinged on a save by Petr Cech and a block by Essien.”

“That could have made it 2-0 but from that corner, instead of us scoring, they scored.”

“I think the pass from (Nicolas) Anelka when they broke on us was meant for Ramires, it was actually slightly behind Ramires and ran on to Kalou.”

“But you give them credit for getting players forward on a counter-attack.”