What are the odds Fernando Torres re-signs for Liverpool? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:00 14/12/11

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There's a rumour that Fernando Torres could be leaving Chelsea in the January transfer window. It’s not known if a fee will be involved.

The Spaniard has scored three league goals in 25 games in a blue shirt – a poor return even by Everton standards.

It means Torres is being paid around £150,000 a week to sit on a bench and do nothing. Not even MPs get rewarded that handsomely.

There are lots of ­theories about why the Spaniard has found it so difficult to find the target at Chelsea.

The most compelling is that he is actually rubbish. Advanced talks that would have seen Torres exchanged in a straight swap with teenage ­singing sensation Justin Bieber broke down at an advanced stage.

Mega-rich Spanish outfit Malaga (11-2) head Hills’ list of clubs vying for Torres’ signature and that makes you smirk. The idea that there’s more than one, I mean.

Manchester United are 8-1 to hand Torres a Premier League lifeline and he’s 14-1 to return to Liverpool and admit the whole move south was a rather ­elaborate practical joke.

The Stamford Bridge misfit is just 4-11 to still be a Chelsea player come the first day of February 2012 – an absolutely ridiculous price but nowhere near as bad as the £50million Chelsea wasted on him.

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BET OF THE DAY

I bought a new book this week called Dyslexia for Begonias.

Take 19-10 that Bruges and Braga play out a mutually beneficial draw in the Europa League on Thursday night.

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It's safe to say Phil Taylor has enjoyed a fairly successful career.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact area of his supremacy over the chasing pack – but it’s probably in the region of the treble 20, and maybe the double brandy.

The Power suffered a shock defeat to arch-rival Mervyn King in the high-glamour Cash Converters Players Championship in Doncaster earlier this month.

Kevin Painter emerged from the competition as the victor, although the real winner was the guy who got £30 for a Polaroid camera.

Though it was only Taylor’s first defeat in front of the TV cameras since June – apart from that time he was on A Question of Sport – he has been pushed out to evens to win the PDC World Championship, which starts in London on Thursday.

Taylor has won this ­tournament more times than he’s had hot dinners (this week).

Paddy Power are offering 6-4 for a nine-dart finish, although the way standards are improving I’d sooner back an eight-dart finish.

The nine-darter is the ­equivalent of the 147 in snooker and the hole-in-one for golf.

Only one man claims to have done all three – Jeffrey Archer... twice last week and three times the week before that.

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I’ve just counted the number of shopping days to Christmas and it’s just nine. Or, if you’re a bloke, one – Christmas Eve.

As a father, I’ve come to the conclusion that if Christmas Day didn’t exist, neither would socks, but it wasn’t always like that.

I remember my dad once got me a toy soldier. When I opened the box it was empty – he said it was an Action Man deserter.

I bring this up as bookies are again betting on the best-selling toy.

One of the favourites, incredibly, is Doggy Doo, a board game which involves a puppy pooping.

I’m really not sure who could get enjoyment from that, apart from the puppy, but I might well buy it just to see the kids’ faeces on Christmas morning.

I’m pretty sure within a couple of hours most of the pieces will be missing – I’ll have hurled them into next door’s back garden.

Hot favourite is the LeapFrog LeapPad at a Scrooge-like 10-11.

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