Kop legend Ian Rush confirmed in an interview on the official club website that Premier League defenders will be more wary of the threat of Torres in the next campaign. “I expect it to be tougher for him next season but, from what we've already seen, we know he will be a success again. Opposition players have tried every trick in the book in an attempt to put him off his stride this season. They've tried to outmuscle and kick him out of the game but he's always come back and just got on with his game. That's what I like most about him.”

“The English game is played at 100mph, much quicker than in Spain and much more physical. But Torres has just got on with it and has proven he is up to it by scoring goal after goal. As a striker, you always look to try and better yourself each season. In that sense, as long as he equals what he has done this year, he'll be happy.”

“He'll be looking to do that and I hope he can. But the main thing is that the team is successful and winning things. I'm sure he'd swap 10 or 15 goals of that for Liverpool to win a trophy.”

While Ian Rush fully backed the signing of Torres last season, he admitted that he thought it would take the Spaniard more time than it did for him to settle and make a major impact at Anfield. “I am surprised just how well he has done so soon. For someone to score that amount of goals in his first season is incredible. His goals to strike ratio in Spain wasn’t actually as good as it could have been. Looking at his record there I was thinking that if we got 20 or so goals from him in total this season that would have been considered a success. But to get 30-plus was something I hadn't thought about or expected from him. Fernando Torres is something special.”

Rush’s partnership with Kenny Dalglish is regarded as one of, if not the best to grace Anfield, but the Liverpool striking legend sees certain similarities in Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. “If you look at the main supply of goals this season it's been Torres and Gerrard. I enjoyed my partnership on the pitch with Kenny Dalglish as Torres and Gerrard clearly do together now. It's only natural when you see a player in the number nine shirt linking up so well with someone in midfield for people to compare them with other successful partnerships. That's the way it is.”

“Likewise, you will hear people asking whether the team of today would beat the team of the 80s? These debates will always run in football. For me, it's good that people are talking about the likes of Torres and Gerrard alongside myself and Kenny because they are quality players. It’s good that we compare players but it is not really important to say who might be the best. It is always the team that matters and how each player contributes to the success of the team.”

“The main thing for me about Torres is not that he is like I was as a player but just that he keeps on scoring goals. It is great to see how well he has done in his first season. But now we have to start winning things as a team to go with any individual success. Torres and Gerrard have scored a great number between them but I think other people need to chip in and help out next season. We can't keep relying on these two to get the goals.”

“Depending on positions, we need more players chipping in with more goals to take the pressure off Torres and Gerrard. Manchester United have got the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez who have all scored well into double figures to help them win the league again this year. Liverpool will want to go and win a trophy next year but also get to the final month of the season still with a chance of winning the league. Having more players capable of helping Gerrard and Torres could be key to those ambitions.”