Liverpool have confirmed they have agreed the sale of Fernando Torres to Premier League rivals Chelsea.

It is understood Chelsea's offer is £45 million(79 million) and the striker will now hold talks with the Blues as he seeks to finalise a deal before the transfer window closes.

A statement read: "Liverpool Football Club tonight confirmed they have agreed a fee with Chelsea for the sale of Fernando Torres. The player has now been given permission to speak to the London club."

Torres joined Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2007 and has scored 65 goals in 102 Premier League games.

Liverpool have moved to compensate for the loss of Torres by agreeing a £35 million deal for Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll.

The club are also hopeful of signing Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam, while Stephen Warnock has been linked with a return to Anfield on loan.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are working hard to sign Benfica defender David Luiz before the transfer window closes.

Roman Abramovich has thus sanctioned one of his biggest ever spending sprees on just two players, splashing out a total investment of almost £130 million to sign Fernando Torres and David Luiz on transfer deadline day.

Torres will command wages of a basic £175,000-a-week but with image rights, bonuses and the signing-on fee spread over the period of his contract, plus wage rise increments in the final years of the deal, the total outlay in wages is £36 million.

That brings the total package to over £80 million-plus for Torres, whereas Chelsea are paying £21 million for Luiz, with the deal coming up to £25m with Nemanja Matic as a makeweight.

As Luiz's Brazilian's wages will be a far more modest £100,000-a-week, including his bonuses, making his total outlay £45 million.

Together that is an astonishing spend on just two players, and marks a complete U-turn on transfer policy for Abramovich who showed no inclination to be hustled into inflated fees until the very last day of the January transfer window.

At the top end of the market it added up to one of the most bizarre January transfers of all time, with the winter window normally a notoriously poor time for top clubs to buy the right type of player, and yet Manchester City also splashed out £28 million for Edwin Dzeko, to make this one of the most remarkable January windows of all time, and probably never to be repeated.

UEFA Financial Fairplay rules kick on from the summer's transfer window and the big clubs know they will henceforth have to be far more prudent with their spending.