Striker light

So go on then, how much have you put on?

A tenner? £50? More? Well someone somewhere is piling money on Thierry Henry to join Liverpool, causing the odds to tumble from 10/1 to 3/1 and today down to 13/8.

Inside info at work? Or more likely a malicious rumour that’s spread so quickly and wildly that prices have been slashed in order to keep up? As so often in the past, it seems that the bookies will be the ones left with the smiles on the faces when this particular saga comes to an end.

Thierry is more likely to be spotted wandering down Las Ramblas than wandering into The Arkles next season. The slight chance of him joining Liverpool must remain, this is a sport where anything can happen after all, but any move would surely rank alongside the moment Jose Mourinho said ‘we didn’t deserve to win’ as one of biggest shocks of the modern game.

So if Rafa Benitez doesn’t turn to the moodily brilliant Frenchman, what’s he left with? This summer has seen Liverpool linked with almost twice as many players as any other year, you’d need a computer screen as long as one of Peter Crouch’s legs to read them all here.

Fan’s initial wildly optimistic dreams of seeing many of the world’s top superstars queuing up outside the Shankly Gates have been tempered. Samuel Eto’o and David Villa won’t be seen ‘driving into Melwood’ any time soon.

This optimism has been replaced by a sort of bizarre depression. Liverpool’s summer signings so far consist of a Ukrainian forward who everyone appears to have written off already and a young Brazilian who no-one had ever heard of. Everyone seems to feel that the Reds should be out there doing what Manchester United are, namely blowing £50m on two youngsters from Portugal and an England international who everyone thought was crap just a year ago.

Benitez will make his moves when the time is right, but who will he move for?

Robbie Fowler’s exit and Craig Bellamy’s likely departure means that much of the fan’s attentions have turned to who the Reds can bring in to strengthen the forward line.

Eto’o and Villa are now out of Liverpool’s league, Tevez would be a surprise, Henry a shock that would measure highly on the Richter scale. A £16m move for Diego Forlan would leave Benitez open to ridicule, Darren Bent lacks the top-level experience required.

Which leaves us with three names (although three more will probably have been linked by the time you’ve read this).

Real Zaragoza’s Diego Milito came to most people’s attention when he was linked at the same time as Forlan, and he did his stock no harm by scoring twice against Real Madrid that night. While his central defender brother Gabriel has featured prominently on a Benitez shopping list before, Diego was a new name to many.

Bearing a striking resemblance to a young Sylvester Stallone, the younger Milito features prominently in the Spanish goalscoring charts. Incidentally, if Liverpool sign both him and his brother, does Rafa need special permission from their parents?

The second name is a regular feature on most fan’s shopping lists; or rather he used to be. Fernando Torres’ stellar reputation has suffered a bit lately.

It is claimed he doesn’t score enough goals and can go missing at times. In reality he is probably suffering from playing in a desperately poor Atletico Madrid side. The thought of him latching onto through balls from Steven Gerrard and close pal Luis Garcia is surely one to send chills down the spines of the Premiership.

Any fee for Torres would undoubtedly break Liverpool’s transfer record; if he adapts to life in the Premiership, it would undoubtedly be worth it.

The third option would seem, on paper at least, to be the one that makes the most sense. A 27-year-old world class striker, with a brilliant international scoring record and experience at two of the greatest clubs in the world is available for £9m. It’s not really a question is it? Sign him up. Oh, did I mention that it’s Michael Owen?

That shouldn’t make a difference but to some people it does. There are those who have never got over Owen’s decision to leave for Real Madrid in 2004. A strange, bitter feeling has existed over it ever since. Any return for the England man (I had to get it in sorry, it’s the law) would not be met kindly by some, but would with others.

If this were any other summer in Liverpool’s history then the answer would be simple: pick the cheapest option. But the club now have, despite media reports to the contrary, a transfer kitty as big as they’ve ever had.

A move for Owen would make sense, but the next Liverpool number nine may well be residing in a city Owen once called home.

At 23, Fernando Torres has already achieved a great deal in his short career. The next chapter could well be one all Liverpool fans can enjoy.