Fernando Torres has forgotten 'true story' of his Liverpool FC exit
by Richard Buxton. Published Fri 18 Nov 2011 21:06, Last updated: 2011-11-19
Fernando Torres claims Liverpool fans "don't know the true story" about his Chelsea switch.
Invariably it is a hollow threat from the one-time Kop sweetheart, no doubt in a bid to gain the psychological edge ahead of Sunday's meeting between the sides at Stamford Bridge.
But if Torres does intend to reveal that 'true story', he may wish to retrace his steps for the purposes of accuracy - because he will emerge from the debacle with little to no credit.
His defection to West London flew in the face of several years' gushing PR about how he would never play for another English club, such was his supposed affinity with Merseyside.
Fast approaching 27, it was unlikely that a player of Torres' proven calibre would languish at a club which had been seemingly going nowhere since his arrival almost four years earlier.
Yet the behaviour of the collective known as 'Brand Torres' during those final 12 months does not vindicate nor exonerate his decision to leave Anfield, nor the manner in which it transpired.
It was well known, behind the scenes, that Torres had been threatening to leave Liverpool as early as late 2009 when it was clear that Champions League qualification appeared unlikely.
His management company - Bahia Internacional - were all too aware of their prize asset's diminishing marketing potential in remaining aboard the club's erstwhile sinking ship.
An injury sustained during a Europa League tie with Benfica in April 2010 could not have been more ill-timed, with the start of the World Cup finals just two months around the corner.
With the World Cup fast approaching, Torres' outstanding commercial deals with the likes of Nike, Pepsi and El Corte Ingles, Spain's leading department store, were all up for renewal.
Such was the pressure on Bahia from those sponsors that both they and Torres were so intent on catapulting him back into the spotlight in South Africa that he chose to go under the knife for a second time in four months to fix a knee problem - foresaking Liverpool's season.
The player himself admitted he willingly suppressed that same knee problem for 85 minutes of the Benfica game, having sustained the injury in the second minute of the quarter final clash.
It was not the first time he had played through the pain barrier against Manchester United just six months prior after damaging an adductor muscle while on international duty with Spain.
But the days of placing club before country had long been vanquished as the actions of Liverpool's top scorer saw them fall even further behind in the race for a top four finish.
Rafael Benitez's withdrawal of his star striker during a 1-1 draw with Birmingham, much to Steven Gerrard's perplexion, was designed to prevent this procedure.
The former Kop boss is alleged to have promised his fellow Spaniard that he would withdraw him after two-thirds of each game until the end of the season in a bid to preseve his fitness.
Benitez is also said to have suggested Torres would benefit from his first summer off in three years by missing the World Cup thus allowing him to prolong his career at the highest level.
This suggestion was allegedly refuted and, contrary to reports at the time, Antonio Sanz - Torres' agent at Bahia - is claimed to have defied the volcanic cloud hanging over Europe by accompanying his client to Barcelona to be treated by his trusted surgeon, Dr Ramon Cugat.
Ultimately, the loss of Torres' fire power cost Benitez his job after years of dodging and delaying the inevitable under Tom Hicks and George Gillett's parsimonious regime.
Rather than reaffirm his commitment to the club following his compatriot's departure, as Pepe Reina did within hours of the announcement, 'El Nino' chose to step up plans for his own exit.
Roman Abramovich's appearance at Spain's World Cup semi-final win over Germany in Durban was not the smoking gun which many Liverpool supporters perceived.
La Furia Roja may have triumphed but Torres was their greatest passenger; resorting to uncharacteristic diving which resulted in the unfair dismissal of Chile's Marco Estrada.
With Chelsea's interest virtually diminished, he attempted to atone for his summer-long silence by posing with a Liverpool scarf in Spain's victorious Soccer City dressing room.
Christian Purslow, Liverpool's former managing director, safeguarded Anfield's key asset until the club was sold by brokering a deal with Torres during crisis talks in Ibiza to stay put.
It was a deal for which the often maligned Anfield chief has earned little credit but with Javier Mascherano already Barcelona-bound, it was a pivotal decision made on his part.
He returned to Melwood, the club's training ground, sporting a toothy grin to deliver the penultimate deception to Reds fans as he continued to plot his over-running escape.
A half-season under Roy Hodgson's disastrous and short-lived tenure offered almost justification for Torres to traipse around the nation's pitches looking largely disinterested.
Goals still trickled but he was still able to turn on the style when it suited as proven by a 10-minute spell against Manchester United and, coincidentally, 87 minutes against Chelsea.
At times during those final five months as a Liverpool player, Torres' ongoing and overt desire to leave the club saw him alienate himself further from some of his team mates.
And even with Liverpool in the hands of capable owners and a manager in Kenny Dalglish - a man with whom he once had a strong level of mutual respect - Torres remained unswayed.
His timing in handing in an initially unsuccessful transfer request was designed to avenge the broken promises and general malaise suffered at the hands of Hicks and Gillett.
It underlined how far the player who breezed through Anfield's corridors in summer 2007 had fallen and was, at the cost of his morals, desperate to revive his ailing commercial image.
Liverpool may lack his fire power but their loss - and Andy Carroll's inability to live up to his £35million billing - has not been Chelsea's gain as Torres' form has been incredibly sporadic.
They have made peace with his ill-conceived decisions while under their jurisdiction, with Dalglish repeatedly dismissing the importance of any individual player to the club.
Torres, however, remains regretful at reneging on previous pledges that Liverpool would remain his English club and continues to convince himself that he was blameless.
In time he may return to his free-scoring ways, lift the silverware which eluded him at Anfield and possibly retain his starring role in Spain's front line to expunge all doubts over his move.
A goal against Liverpool on Sunday would go some way to helping achieve this but while he remains engrossed on rewriting history, he is in danger of remaining English football's punch line.
http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverpool-fc/1214788-fernando-torres-has-forgotten-true-story-of-his-liverpool-fc-exit.html
