Fernando Torres' fall from grace

The stage is the Euro 2008 final. Xavi Hernandez picks up the ball in midfield and sees a man attempting to drift in-between two defenders, and attempts sliding it into his path. The pass has a bit too much power for the man to cushion it into his stride. Instead, he takes a touch to allow it to go past Philip Lahm on his outside, and in a burst of pace, gets around Lahm before he can shepherd the ball back into the hands of the advancing goalkeeper, and dinks it past the keeper in a split second; The ball nestles into the far corner of the net. A goal out of nothing. Yet, it was almost expected. Such was the reputation of the man, who also went on to claim the Man of The Match award in the final. Fernando Torres —- The Goal-machine.

His CV made for staggering reading. Here was a man who made his professional debut at the age of 17, and such was his influence over the following years, that he was named captain of Atletico Madrid, one of Spain’s more sizeable clubs, at the ripe-old age of 19. It was obvious that El Nino was destined for greater things. So it came as no shock when, in the summer of 2007, he made the move to Liverpool and the Barclays Premier League. Most players require a bedding-in period to acclimatize to the overwhelming speed and forceful nature of English football. Not Fernando Torres. He went on to set the record for the most league goals scored by a foreign player in a debut season, beating Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s tally of 23 goals. He later went on to become the fastest player to score 50 league goals in the illustrious history of Liverpool Football club. After only a year and a half at the club, Torres was included in The Times’s list of “The 50 greatest Liverpool players”. Rafael Benitez, one of the stingiest managers in football when it comes to handing out praises, said:

“When you talk about the Premier League you talk about a lot of players with quality so it is not easy to pick just one, but he is among the best.”

Meanwhile, speculation over a big-money move to Chelsea had been building for some time. The end of Torres’ last full season was characterized by criticism of his performances, with several pundits highlighting a perceived lack of “commitment to the cause”. He still ended the 2009-10 season with a remarkable total of 22 goals in 32 games in all competitions.

The beginning of the 2010-11 season, however, saw the beginning of the end of Torres’s Anfield career, as Roy Hodgson took the reins at Liverpool. Their title hopes quickly evaporated as The Reds plummeted deep into the bottom half of the League table, with several players under-performing, and an unfortunate manager found to be apparently out of depth. With Steven Gerrard out for long periods due to injury, Torres had to take the weight of the team on his shoulders. Maybe he needed some more work at the gym, but he failed. His abject performances fueled speculation of a transfer out of the club. This finally arrived on the final day of the January transfer window, his £50 million transfer fee obliterating the previous record of £32.5 million set by Robinho.

The signings of Torres and David Luiz were meant to reinvigorate Chelsea’s flagging title bid. On paper, a front-two of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres augmented by the talents of Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda promised to be one of the best forward lines in Europe. What unfolded proved to be a farce of epic proportions.

With Torres’s arrival, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelloti had to re-work Chelsea’s tried-and-tested 4-3-3 formation into a shape which could accommodate both Torres and Drogba. “We have to give Fernando time to adjust to the shape but I think that he will do it quickly,” said Ancelotti. All manner of alterations were made, with Chelsea failing in their attempts to play 4-4-2, as it severely affected the mobility of their midfield, and reverting back to 4-3-3 with Drogba, Torres and Anelka each shunted out to wide positions, to no avail. Torres’s touch was poor, his movement and link-up play were sub-par, and when presented with a goal-scoring opportunities, his finishing was often Emile Heskey-esque. Despite growing unrest over Torres’s obvious inability to gel into the team, Ancelloti persevered with him. His only goal in Chelsea colours came against West Ham, and even that had more than a hint of fortune about it, as he took a seemingly heavy first touch when running onto the ball in the West Ham penalty area, only for the ball to get caught in the water-logged pitch, allowing him to swivel and dispatch into the net before a challenge could be made. This ended a 900+ minutes wait for his first, and so far only Chelsea goal. Such was the negativity surrounding Torres that there were widespread appeals for him to be dropped for Chelsea’s potentially title-deciding clash against Manchester United. He came on as a late substitute and failed to make an impact.

From being the most feared center-forward in world football, Torres has this season been reduced to a £50 million flop. Few would have imagined such a dramatic fall from grace, but success can be a cruel mistress, leaving on a whim. While his form this past season may have been abysmal, few can argue that Torres is anything short of world-class. As the often over-used adage goes: Form is temporary, but class is permanent. A turn-around in fortune is definitely on the cards, and he will be banging them in again very soon. In fact, he just scored one for Spain on Sunday. Premier league defenses, beware.