Liverpool will pay record-breaking £27m for Torres

Liverpool are close to delivering the emphatic statement of intent demanded by manager Rafael Benitez having agreed a club record £27m deal with Atletico Madrid for their venerated striker Fernando Torres.

The transfer, expected to comprise around £20m in cash plus Luis Garcia, has been accepted in principle by Atletico and is now dependent on the Spanish international declaring an intent to leave his boyhood club when he returns from holiday on 10 July.

Liverpool officials have been in negotiations all week after being rebuffed in their preliminary enquiries for the 23-year-old who has risen through the ranks to captain Atletico, scoring 82 goals in 212 appearances for them, and has been a target for several leading clubs including Chelsea and Manchester United.

Under pressure to make their first major signing of the summer, not least from Benitez, the Anfield hierarchy have accepted that Atletico will not sell Torres for less than the €40m release clause in his contract. And, while that has been agreed with Atletico president Enrique Cerezo, the club want Torres to publicly announce his desire to leave before confirming a departure that will enrage their supporters.

For Liverpool owners George Gillet and Tom Hicks the capture will represent a coup in the face of unease at the lack of big name talent at Anfield.

In the wake of the European Cup final defeat in Athens Benitez delivered a damning indictment of Liverpool's recent transfer dealings and claimed: "We talk and talk but we never finish. I am worried about talking to players, for one or two months or even six months, and then losing them. I want things done."

Benitez had hoped to use the club's current record signing, £14m Djibril Cissé, as a makeweight in the deal rather than Garcia, who he brought to Liverpool from Barcelona for £6m in 2004 and wants to keep. However, Cissé made it clear in talks with Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry that he would not join Atletico while Garcia, who played for them in 2002-03, has warmed to the idea of a return to Spain.

Liverpool had hoped to use the Cissé fee for other transfer targets and with around £20m committed on the Torres deal, albeit in instalments, they will have to raise funds through the sale of players such as Craig Bellamy to secure Benitez's remaining objectives for the summer.

Two wingers and a defender will remain on the manager's list once, as expected, the Atletico forward announces his time at the club is over. Madrid have lined up Villarreal's Diego Forlan as a replacement.

Benitez's demand for Liverpool to invest in more potential talent has also been addressed this week, with the club signing 18-year-old defender Mikel San Jose for £270,000 from Athletic Bilbao and 19-year-old Bulgarian goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov on a three-year contract from Levski Sofia.

Midfielder Mohamed Sissoko has signed a new four-year deal at Anfield.