Progression of the British football transfer fee record in 2001 was £38m. On 1 September 2008, Manchester City agreed a reported £32,500,000 fee for Robinho, which remained the record amount paid by a British club until 31 January 2011, when Liverpool paid £35,000,000 for Andy Carroll from Newcastle United, which was also a new record amount paid for a British player. A few hours later, the record amount paid by a British club was broken again when Chelsea paid £50,000,000 for Fernando Torres from Liverpool. On 11 June 2009, Manchester United announced that they had accepted an £80,000,000 bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. The transfer was
History of Liverpool F.C. (1985–present) businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club, in a deal which valued it and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. Liverpool once more came third in the league, this time 21 points behind Manchester United. They went out of both domestic cup competitions to Arsenal, but reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final where they again faced Milan. Unlike 2005, Liverpool were unable to recover from going behind, and lost the match 2–1. During the summer, Benítez strengthened his team by signing Fernando Torres for a club record £24 million, and midfielders Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun. They