Meet The Players

Fernando Torres

Fernando José Torres Sanz (born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish football player currently playing for Liverpool. In the five seasons preceding his move to Liverpool from Atletico Madrid, Torres scored 75 goals in 176 La Liga appearances, with only Ronaldo, Samuel Eto'o and David Villa bettering that tally during the same period. Prior to that, Torres played two seasons in the Spanish second division. He has also been given the nickname El Niño ("the Kid") due to his youthful complexion. In his first season with Liverpool, he scored 33 goals, including 24 in the Premier League, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of most league goals scored in the debut season (van Nistelrooy scored 23).

Early career

From an early age, Torres developed a bond with Atlético Madrid. His grandfather wasn't passionate about football in general but prided himself in being an Atlético supporter, and the younger Torres soon inherited his love for the club.^[1]

When he was 7, the young Torres started playing regularly in an indoor league for his neighbourhood club, Mario’s Holland, as a forward. Three years later, aged 10, he progressed to playing for an 11-side team, Rayo 13. After an impressive season with his new club, in which he scored 55 goals, Torres was one of three Rayo 13 players who earned a trial with Atlético Madrid. He impressed the scouts and, aged just 11, joined the club in 1995.^[1]

Club career

Atlético Madrid

1995-2000: Atlético youth team

After progressing through the ranks for a few seasons, Torres won his first important youth title in 1998. Atlético sent an under-15 team to compete in Nike Cup Europe, against youth teams from prominent European clubs including Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Fenerbahçe. Atlético won the tournament. He was later voted the best player in Europe for that age-group.

In 1999, aged 15, Torres fulfilled his childhood dreams and signed his first contract with Atlético Madrid. He spent his first year playing in the promising Atlético under 19 team, but it was in the following season that he really made his mark,in 2000 he was voted the cool guy or Best player ever to come from Madrid.

2000-01: Debut season

The 2000–01 season had started badly, as Torres suffered from a broken leg that kept him out of action until December, but that proved to be only a temporary setback. In February 2001, he was part of the Spanish under-16s team that won the Algarve Tournament, in May he was part of the same team that won the 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship and by the end of the season he was playing for Atlético's senior team. Torres's first team debut on May 27, 2001, at El Calderón, against Leganés. A week later, he scored his first goal for the club, in a game against Albacete.^[1] His nickname is 'El Niño', which translates to The Kid.^{[citation needed]}

2001-02: Promotion to La Liga

2001–02 saw Atlético win promotion back to La Liga.The then-17-year-old Torres didn't have the best of seasons in front of goal, though, netting only six times in 36 appearances in the Segunda Division.^{[citation needed]} In November, Torres represented Spain at the 2001 FIFA Under-17 World Championship. He scored one goal in three games, but the team didn't progress past the group stage. Later that season, in July, Torres won the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Again he scored the only goal in the final and ended as the tournament's leading goalscorer (4 goals in 4 games) and best player.^[2]

2002-03: La Liga debut

2002 saw Atlético Madrid returning to La Liga, the first division of Spanish football. In his first season playing in the top flight, Torres did not find the transition from second-tier football too much of a hindrance, and he scored 13 goals in 29 appearances as Atlético finished 12th. He also made his debut for the Spanish under-20 team.

2003-04: Atlético captain

In 2003-04 season Torres made further strides, and he scored 19 league goals in just 35 appearances. Aged just 19, he was also named Atlético's club captain. Atlético also improved, to 7th, but narrowly missed out on an automatic UEFA Cup place on the final day of the season by virtue of an inferior goal difference in their head-to-head record against Sevilla (2-1, 0-2). However, Atlético's 7th place finish in 2004 did allow them to compete in the Intertoto Cup, giving Torres his first taste of European club competition. They made the final, but lost on penalties, this time to Villarreal. Fernando Torres was the youngest player ever to captain Atlético Madrid before transferring to Liverpool FC. 

2005-07: Transfer speculation

After the 2006 World Cup, in which Torres participated as a member of the Spanish national team, the striker admitted that he had turned down the chance to join Chelsea at the end of the 2005-06 season.^[3] Following the 2006-07 season, Torres's future at Madrid was once again the subject of speculation after Atlético's inability to secure an automatic UEFA Cup spot. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were all linked with a move for the player,^[4] with reports in the English media stating that Torres was the main transfer target of Liverpool.^[5]

The rumours reached such a fever pitch that Atlético president Enrique Cerezo made a statement saying, "We've received no offer from Liverpool or any other club or player."^[6] However, a few days later new reports suggested Atlético had agreed a deal with Liverpool for Torres; the fee rumoured was £25 million with Luis Garcia moving in the opposite direction in a separate transfer deal.^[7] Then on 30 June Atlético announced a deal with Villareal to sign Diego Forlán, which was seen as a move to replace Torres before his departure had become official.^[8]

2007: Leaving Atlético

On July 2 it was reported Torres had cut short his holiday to fly back to Madrid to finalise the move. The following day, Torres passed a medical for Liverpool and it was announced that a farewell press conference would be held in Madrid the on 4 July to bid farewell to the Atlético Madrid fans. Later that day, Atlético officially confirmed his transfer to Liverpool on their website. ^[9][10] In March 2008, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez confirmed to The Times that Torres was acquired for around £20 million.^[11]

Liverpool

2007-08: Debut Season

On August 11, "El Niño" made his competitive debut for Liverpool against Aston Villa in a 2-1 win. He scored his first English Premier League goal on his Anfield debut on August 19, in the 16th minute in the 1-1 draw against Chelsea.

On February 23 and March 5, Torres scored two league hat-tricks in 3-2 against Middlesborough and 4-0 victories against West Ham United.^[12] In doing so, he became the first player since Jackie Balmer in November 1946, and the fourth player in the club's history, to score hat-tricks in successive home matches.^[13] His performances earned him Barclays Premier League Player of the Month honours for February.

March continued to be a good month for the now prolific goal-scorer, as he became the first Liverpool F.C. player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995/96 campaign to score 20 league goals in a season, when he scored a 47th minute header against Reading F.C. at Anfield.^[14].

In April, he scored another Champions League goal, this time against Arsenal to take Liverpool through to the semi-final. This goal took him onto 29 goals for the season in all competitions, eclipsing former Liverpool favourite Michael Owen's personal record for goals in a season. On April 11, 2008, it was announced Torres had made a six man shortlist for both the PFA Player of the Year Award, finishing second, as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, and Torres was named in the PFA Team of the Year.^{[citation needed]} Two days later, Torres scored his 30th goal of the season and became the first Liverpool F.C. player to score in 7 consecutive games in the Premier League at Anfield.

On May 4th, 2008, Torres scored a 57th minute winner against Manchester City, his 23rd goal, which equaled the consecutive Anfield league goal record (8 games) set by Roger Hunt.

On May 11th, 2008, Torres scored his 24th league goal in the final game of the season, a 2-0 win against Tottenham. This tally set a new bench mark for the most prolific foreign goal scorer ever in a debut season in England, eclipsing Ruud van Nistelrooy's 23 goals. Remarkably, all Torres's goals came without him taking any spot kicks. He ended the season joint 2nd with Emmanuel Adebayor in the race for the golden boot^[15]. Along with this came the title of most goals scored by a newcomer, a rookie, in the Premier League in one season since the league changed its name in 1992.