After Liverpool sold Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50 million in 2011, the striker’s form dropped sharply, something which wasn’t unexpected for Liverpool’s players at the time.
In an alternative 2011 reality, Liverpool supporters could have looked upon the sale of Torres as a good move for the Reds on the pitch and in the boardroom.
However, the breaking of hearts and subsequent squandering of £35 million on Andy Carroll meant that was never going to be the case.
For the players at the time, though, the loss of Torres wasn’t quite as devastating as it was for fans.
Speaking on The Overlap, Jamie Carragher explained how the club had seen the Spaniard’s decline coming.
“When Liverpool got the £50 million for Torres, we were like… WOW.”@Carra23 on Fernando Torres and his record-breaking transfer to Chelsea ??? pic.twitter.com/Fou7xZl3nD
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“He started getting injuries even in his second season at Liverpool but still doing really well,” Carragher recalled.
“And then his third season at Liverpool which would have been Rafa Benitez’s last season, he was not the same player.
“So they won the Euros in 2008, that was Torres at his best. He was the No. 9, scores the winning goal against Germany.
“In 2010, he wasn’t in the team (for the final). He came on as a sub in the World Cup final and pulled his hamstring and I think even though Spain have won the World Cup, I think that was like a bit of a nightmare.
“The whole world’s watching, he’s come on, he’s getting this tag now of being injury prone. Bang, he’s on for like 10 or 15 minutes, pulls his hamstring.
“Rafa then goes, Roy Hodgson comes in and he was just in a different headspace then.”
Torres had a release clause of £50 million at the time was an enormous sum, £20 million more than Liverpool’s previous record sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.
Despite his injuries beginning to take their toll, as evidenced by him playing just nine times for Liverpool in the 2010/11 season before leaving on January 31, 2011, Chelsea were still willing to break their transfer record.
Carragher remembered how a surprise Liverpool victory under Hodgson helped convince Roman Abramovich to pay the necessary price.
He said: “We beat Chelsea 2-0 at home under Roy Hodgson, Torres scored two and that was like, the deal is done.
“So when we were getting the £50 million from Torres, we were like ‘wow, they’re not getting the Torres that we know’.
“I think we knew that at the time.”
On the night in question, Torres did indeed score twice and exhibited the kind of ruthlessness that sent defenders running scared in his early years at Liverpool.
Matt Lawton wrote in his report from Anfield for the Mail: “If there remain concerns about his (Torres’) pace, and whether those knee and groin problems have robbed him of the ability to accelerate in the same fashion, he has certainly rediscovered much that is good about his game.
“The predatory instincts were back yesterday, as was the intelligent movement and the touch of a genius.”
Chelsea had long been interested in El Nino and with money to burn, may well have paid up in January whatever the case.
However, it was arguably Torres’ two goals scored against the Londoners shortly before joining them, that helped paper over cracks and secure his ill-fated future in blue.
