Torres was one of the Premier League’s biggest stars at Liverpool! Why can his transfer to Chelsea be described as a failure?

In his time, he was one of the biggest stars of European football. Fernando Torres impressed greatly in his first engagement at Atlético Madrid, and made an even bigger impact at Liverpool. However, he then moved to Chelsea, where he didn’t shine nearly as much individually. Why can this transfer be described as a failure, even though he has had a lot of success at the club?

Fernando Torres grew up playing football at Atlético Madrid. He joined the team in 2001 and almost immediately worked his way into the starting line-up. It should be noted that Torres helped his team back to the first league, as Atlético were in the second Spanish league at the time.

He scored six goals and added three assists in 36 games. The next season he added 29 games, in which he scored 13+1. He stayed at Atlético until the end of the 2006/07 season, starting 36 games or more each time except for the aforementioned season.

During that time, he scored 89 competitive goals in a Madrid club’s jersey, but did not register any significant club success. He also became one of the biggest stars of European football only at Liverpool, an engagement that probably suited him most of all.

Big Premier League star

The Reds paid €38 million for him in July 2007. The Fuenlabrada native’s career was very promising. Already in his first season in the Premier League he played 33 league games for Liverpool, scoring 24 goals and assisting four more. He added six goals in the Champions League and three in the English League Cup.

However, Torres did not become the competition’s top scorer. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) was the winner with 31 goals, while the Spanish forward had to share the second position with Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal).

However, he struggled with muscle and knee injuries in 2008/09. As a result, he only started 24 games, but still managed 14 goals and five assists. Due to injuries, he played fewer games in the next two seasons, but in the following season he scored a respectable 18 goals, considering the number of games (22).

In terms of individual statistics, Torres had his best period of his career at Liverpool. In 142 games he scored 81 goals and assisted 20 more. A great record indeed! Moreover, Torres was one of the key members of the Spanish national team in the chase for the title at Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010. Then he also won another trophy on the international stage when he captured the 2012 European Championship with Spain.

Transfer to Chelsea

It is no wonder then that Chelsea paid over €58 million for him in the winter transfer window at the end of January 2011. Only, Torres did not build on his individual performances from Liverpool at the Stamford Bridge club. Although in terms of club success, it was only at Chelsea that he managed to win valuable trophies.

In the London club, he won the Champions League trophy at the end of the 2011/12 season. In 2012, he also won the FA Cup with Chelsea, and at the end of the 2012/13 season, he won the Europa League. But individually, he simply wasn’t seen as much as he was at Liverpool.

After the transfer in the spring part of the season, he played 14 games in the blue jersey and registered only one goal in them. In the following season he scored only 6 goals in 32 league games. Consecutively in the following seasons (2012/13 and 2013/14) he scored 8 goals in 36 encounters and five in 28.

On the other hand, during Chelsea’s victorious campaign in the Champions League, Torres helped his team with three goals and five assists in ten matches. But on the league turf, the former Spanish international’s shooting powder simply got wet, at least compared to his engagement at Liverpool.

Torres scored 45 goals for the Blues, almost half as many as at his previous employer. The other aspect is that he needed 30 more games to do so.

In 2014, his journey as far as guest appearances are concerned began when he moved from Chelsea to AC Milan, and from there back to Atlético Madrid. He concluded his football career at the end of August 2019 at Japanese club Sagan Tosu.

Sources: Premier League, Transfermarkt