During a recent interview, Steven Gerrard finally opened up about Fernando Torres’ transfer to Chelsea when he left Liverpool FC.
There are still Liverpool fans who haven’t forgotten Fernando Torres for going to Chelsea, just like Steven Gerrard. The only difference here is that the Reds’ legend had to share some years with the Spaniard and became his good friend. Torres was arguably one of the best transfers during that era at the club. He came from Atletico Madrid by Rafael Benitez’s request. During his first season, Torres made a tremendous impact as he nearly won the Premier League.
He scored a total of 33 goals in all competitions, which was only nine short of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42 goals. Fernando made a nearly perfect partnership with Steven Gerrard, Liverpool’s captain. But after that first year, everything started crumbling down. Torres made the decision to leave the Reds but he still wanted to play in English football. In most clubs, going to a direct title contender is considered treason by most people. Gerrard still hasn’t been able to forget this choice made by Torres.
Gerrard won’t forget Torres leaving to Chelsea.
“I didn’t play with Torres long enough, because he went to Chelsea and broke my heart,” Gerrard said on Robbie Fowler’s podcast. “If you asked me who was the best player on a daily basis consistently, [Luis] Suarez was an animal, but my best years were alongside Torres in terms of how I felt. I was really, really gutted [when Torres left]. We’re working so hard at this point to try and get as close as we can to close the gap and challenge. At Liverpool at the time it always felt like we were taking huge strides and getting close and progressing really well, and then at a really key time and a key moment for the team and the group, a big player gets taken away and it takes time to recover from that.
“My relationship with Torres, I was getting a lot of goals at that time. I was at my peak and felt fantastic. I understand everyone’s situation is different,” Gerrard continued. “People have dreams and different paths and they’re not all local lads who love the club. I appreciate and respect all that, but at the same time it still hurts when someone leaves a club. I’ve told Fernando that. I tried to get him to stay. I told his agent the same. They were both at Melwood but they made a decision and that decision was out of my hands. It hurt a lot.”
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