The Stamford Bridge club were rebuffed when they made a £35million bid for the Spanish striker on Friday after Torres had handed in a transfer request.

That came just hours after Liverpool had agreed a deal, understood to be around £23million, with Ajax for Uruguay forward Luis Suarez.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti refused to be drawn on the Torres situation after his side's 1-1 draw against Everton in the FA Cup as speculation grew that Chelsea were set to increase their offer and possibly even throw in striker Nicolas Anelka to sweeten the deal.

Ancelotti said: "We will have to wait."

Liverpool have told Torres they expect him to honour his long-term contract and they see him in a striking partnership with Suarez.

But while Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is desperate to keep Torres, the club's owners, the Fenway Sports Group, might yet be persuaded by an inflated bid which would smash the British transfer record, rather than keep a disaffected player.

Newcastle, meanwhile, will be hoping to hang on to 22-year-old striker Andy Carroll after having received a reported £25million bid from Tottenham,

Spurs have been tracking Carroll for some time despite Newcastle manager Alan Pardew having repeatedly insisted he is not for sale.

Carroll has missed the club's last five games with a torn thigh muscle and he travelled to Sweden on Friday to consult a specialist.

Pardew has already ruled him out of Wednesday night's trip to Fulham and admits he is touch and go for Arsenal's visit to Tyneside three days later.

Another striker poised to move is Tottenham's Robbie Keane, who is wanted to shore up West Ham's bid to escape relegation.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, however, is adamant that Gareth Bale is going nowhere, despite interest reportedly in the region of £40million from Inter Milan. Aston Villa have been linked with a move for midfielder Jermain Jenas.

Reports have also suggested Tottenham could make a £26million swoop for Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.

Blackpool playmaker Charlie Adam remains on Liverpool's wanted list with Blackpool boss Ian Holloway attempting to crank up the fee, a second Anfield bid currently stands at around £6.5million. Reports have also linked Manchester United with a possible late bid for Adam.

The transfer window closes at 11pm tomorrow and activity had already reached £74,025,000 by this morning with the potential for that figure to rise considerably.

So far the stand-out deals have involved strikers, Edin Dzeko moving from Wolfsburg to Manchester City for a fee thought to be £23million and Darren Bent from Sunderland to Aston Villa for an £18million fee which could rise to £24million.

Deals which could still be done involve Birmingham, who are closing in on former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins from Rubin Kazan while boss Alex McLeish has also confirmed Racing Santander have enquired about re-signing Nikola Zigic.

Aston Villa are also thought to be close to bringing in United States midfielder Michael Bradley on loan. Bradley is currently with Borussia Monchengladbach and is the son of USA national coach Bob Bradley, who was linked with the Villa job after Martin O'Neill left the club.