Liverpool sign Suárez and Carroll

Liverpool FC have moved to fill the void left by Fernando Torres' record transfer to Chelsea FC by bringing in forwards Luis Suárez from AFC Ajax and Andy Carroll from Newcastle United FC for a combined €66.75m.

Torres completed his switch to Stamford Bridge on Monday night, by which time Suárez had arrived for a fee which could reach €26.5m. The Uruguay striker was followed into Anfield by €40.25m recruit Carroll, the 22-year-old becoming the most expensive British player of all time. Both players have penned five-and-a-half year contracts.

Suárez scored 81 goals in 110 league games for Ajax and has also found the net 16 times in 39 international appearances, three of which came in six games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

He began his career with Club Nacional de Futbol in Montevideo, crossing the Atlantic to sign for FC Groningen in 2006. Suárez was to spend just one season with the Pride of the North before being taken to the Amsterdam ArenA for a €7.5m fee in the summer of 2007.

The powerful Carroll, born in the Newcastle heartland of Gateshead, made his first-team debut in 2006 and has scored 11 times in the Premier League this season. His muscular game and finishing ability earned him a call-up to Fabio Capello's England squad in November when he made his international debut against France.

In other business, the Coventry City FC midfield player Conor Thomas, 17, has arrived at Anfield on loan for the rest of the season with a view to a permanent €1.15m summer switch. Newcastle have made a loan signing themselves, bringing in Aston Villa FC midfielder Stephen Ireland until the end of the current campaign.