Fernando Torres moved from Liverpool to Chelsea in January 2011 for what was a British record transfer fee of £50 million. The Spaniard has now opened up about his acrimonious departure from Anfield in Simon Hughes’ new book titled ‘Ring of Fire’. 

 

Torres scored 81 goals in 142 appearances for the Reds in all competitions, before leaving in controversial fashion to Stamford Bridge in January 2011. Liverpool fans were incensed with the Spaniard and branded him a traitor for leaving Anfield for one of the club’s most bitter rivals.

El Nino has now spoken out about the transfer, saying that he felt that the trajectory Liverpool were on would be detrimental to his career.

“Comolli told me that the new owners (FSG), they had an idea of how to spend their investment,” says Torres in the new book ‘Ring of Fire’ by Simon Hughes, according to Sky Sports.

“They wanted to bring in young players, to build something new. I was thinking to myself, this takes time to work. It takes two, three, four, maybe even 10 years.

“I didn’t have that time. I was 27 years old. I did not have time to wait. I wanted to win. Here we are five years later and they are still trying to build – around the same position in the league as when I left.”

The Spaniard added that he was presented as a traitor after it became public that he was willing to move to Chelsea. However, the club never explained his stance and their own future plans, making him the scapegoat.

Betrayed?
Betrayed? (Photo courtesy – AFP/Getty Images)

Torres went on to have an underwhelming four-year spell at Chelsea, scoring 45 goals in 172 appearances. He did, however, have a massive impact for the club in the Europa League in 2012-13, rounding off a fruitful campaign by opening the scoring against Benfica in the final. The Blues went on to win the game 2-1 and have since not been part of a major European final.

The 32-year-old striker then spent two unsuccessful seasons at AC Milan and boyhood club Atletico Madrid. El Nino has been fit and firing once again this past season though, as he scored 12 goals for Los Rojiblancos despite largely being an impact substitute role. The sun may have set too early on his Liverpool career, but it looks like the Spaniard’s professional career still has some miles to go.

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