Balague Torres article from the Times

[madskilz]

The Times

 

 

Only a fool would call Jamie Carragher a bottlerMartin Samuel

 

 

From The TimesJuly 13, 2007

 

Torres ‘made up’ to join club who could have anyone in world

 

Liverpool’s new striker, revelling in being given his chance on the biggest stage, tells Guillem Balague about his Anfield hopes

 

Fernando Torres was walking his two dogs near his house in Madrid – “two sensitive bulldogs” that he plans to take to Liverpool – when he got a call from a number he did not recognise. He does not normally answer his phone when he does not know who it is, but thinking it may have been a call from England he decided to pick it up in case it was Cesc Fàbregas, José Manuel Reina or José Antonio Reyes.

 

“I cannot remember if he said, ‘Hi, it’s Rafa’ or, ‘Hi, this is Benítez,’ ” Torres said. The Liverpool manager was on holiday in Portugal a week after the Champions League final, but he was focusing on signing the striker that would help his team to make the definitive jump in quality in the Barclays Premier League. “I was surprised but did not realise the dimension of what I was hearing till I hung up,” Torres said. “Then I thought, ‘Wow, this club that can get anybody in the world has rung me, they want me.’”

 

A month and a half later, a couple of days ago in fact, he arrived at Mel-wood at 8am for his first Liverpool training session. Nobody was at the training ground yet, so he changed and started having breakfast while waiting for people to arrive. He shook hands with Peter Crouch first, then Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, and then he gave Reina a hug – he had arrived. At 23 he was finally where everybody predicted he would end up, at one of the big clubs, one that will help him to play for the first time in European competition and one where he is capable of fulfilling his dreams.

 

Sadly, it could not be with Atlético Madrid, the club that saw him grow. And that became painfully obvious in the last match of the season just finished, a humiliating 6-0 home defeat by Barcelona. “We always raised our game against Barcelona,” Torres said. “It was one of our little victories during a season. We thought that proved that we could be at a higher level if things were done in the right way. But it was all an illusion and I realised it on that day. I had to move on.”

 

When the offer from Liverpool arrived, he asked Atlético to listen to it and if possible accept it, even though Benítez was never going to pay the whole of his buy-out clause – €40 million (about £27 million). The offer was about €25 million increasing to about €30 million depending on targets, plus Luis GarcÍa, valued at €4 million. Then Torres went on holiday to Polynesia and he returned sooner than expected because everything was agreed.

 

After passing the medical and signing he asked to say goodbye to his fans in Madrid before being unveiled at Anfield. “In one of the trips, at the passport control of the airport, we were there when a plane landed,” he said. “People recognised me and I started signing autographs, but at the same time opening a space so I could keep moving. I quickly realised life was going to be different in Liverpool.”

 

Torres is talking about the weight of expectation that he has had to carry at Atlético, where, at 19, he became captain and the only person responsible for everything that was good and bad at the club. He was mobbed, criticised, scrutinised. He couldn’t breathe.

 

People accused him of saying goodbye in a distant way, no tears or anything. When presented with the new Atlético shirt he rejected the opportunity to wear it. When the chairman offered a hug, he gave a hand instead.

 

“I didn’t think it was convenient to wear Atlético’s new shirt when I belonged already to another club,” he said. But what he means is that it was never again up to him to represent the club he loves. There was no shield for the directors who for eight years had failed to build a team that could qualify for Europe. In the press conference at Anfield, the weight had gone. It was another Fernando Torres and the smile he wore that day has not abandoned him since.

 

“I don’t care about the weather. My girlfriend, who I will live with, is from Galicia, where it rains constantly,” Torres said. “I know I am in a special club, in a city that has had better times, but that is getting stronger. I have already noticed that in the couple of days we have been here.

 

“When my friends gave me the arm-band with the ‘we’ll never walk alone’ logo, the one they have tattooed in their arms, I was not thinking of Liverpool as my next destination, but there is a reason why we liked that sentence. At Atlético, in my district, we know what it means.”

 

But training is different and he is already suffering the consequences of the hard work imposed by Pako Ayes-taran, the Liverpool assistant manager. “They do train here, don’t they?” he said. Torres knows how important the physical side of the game is in England. “I am going to play 20 more matches than at Atlético,” he said. “But I am sure the adaptation is going to be easier partly because I know some of the guys here, but partly because I can already see in training that the team moves like a unit.

 

“It is a team that is already solid. I was running around trying to follow their moves but I’m still miles away to accomplish that efficiently.”

 

However, other factors will help his adaptation. “I can see I could be useful when we use the counter-attack, with the long balls of Gerrard or the passes from Xabi [Alonso],” Torres said. “It is up to me to give even more to the team. I have scored more goals when I have been playing as a target man, but I can play off another striker, do his dirty work if you like.

 

“I will have to get used to the different intensity of the Premier League. I also need to get rid of some of the habits one learns when younger. There will be a price to pay while I learn, a yellow card or two. At least I know from having watched the Premier League that referees allow more to the forward. In Spain if I made a fault it was a yellow card straight away, but here I can be physical.”

 

Liverpool fans will have to wait until one of the friendlies in Switzerland next week – against Werder Bremen or Auxerre – to see Torres’s debut. His ankle is getting better and he is training normally. The forward played the last two matches of last season’s La Liga while injured to help the failed attempt to get Atlético into Europe despite the fact that he knew there could be moving on.

 

Now he plans to start improving his basic English and keeps looking at the DVDs the club gave him when he arrived. “They are about the Kop, about the old players and managers,” he said. “I have seen a few of them and will see the rest when we go to China, it is a long trip.” Six years at Liverpool could also be considered a long trip, but Torres can’t wait to start. “How do you say ‘ estoy muy ilusionado’ in English?” he asked before going around Liverpool looking for houses. It is “I’m so made up” – in Scouse.

[Guest GeCk0]

Brilliant article. Torres sounds like he's doing everything he can to fit in.

 

Seriously though, in his first season as long as he works hard for the team and stays positive, i'll be made up.

 

Interesting that it sounds like Crouch was the first person into training. Good man.

[micmij]

Interesting that it sounds like Crouch was the first person into training. Good man.

Second

 

Sounds like Torres has the right attitude - can't wait to see him in action!

[windy city red]

Is it wise having breakfast before training though?

[urban]

Few things I like already.

 

1) 1st person in training

2) Hungry (for success hopefully as well)

3) Recognise the need to unlearn the things he learnt in AM (and learn the new things abt LFC) - keen to improve

4) Can do dirty work to help other striker

5) Willing to pick up a couple of yellows here and there.

 

I am surprised he did not wear the AM shirt when offered and did not hug the AM chairman and instead shook his hand.

[Magic8Ball]

Is it wise having breakfast before training though?

YES !

a light breakfast to make sure you have sufficient fluids and have enough sugars to exercise hard ...it produces a better output than not eating

plus there is the socialising beforehand that puts people in the mood.

It's all good stuff, note Benayoun, Babel and Torres were all desperate to join us, so that bodes well for our pulling power

[Leo No.8]

This lad is going to fit right in here.

 

His playing style with the pace and movement he brings are perfect to improve our team, but equally importantly his attitude and the way he goes about things are a great fit with Liverpool Football Club. Can't remember ever being so excited about a signing...

Edited July 13, 2007 by Leo No.8

[Guest Sabre]

Love that article. Can't wait to see this guy when he's settled in

[Eiler99]

For some reason I've always wondered how Rafa introduces himself on the phone. So now we finally have a chance to find out and Torres can't remember. I guess I'll have to wait for my call to find out.

[Leo No.8]

For some reason I've always wondered how Rafa introduces himself on the phone. So now we finally have a chance to find out and Torres can't remember. I guess I'll have to wait for my call to find out.

 

I hope it was 'Benitez'.

[muleskinner]

Sounds like Rafa tapped him up.

[Mike]

i heard he says 'rafa here' like david mellor did on the football phone in

[magneto]

Rafa on the phone = Wassup dawg in deep spanish accent. No?

[kacangpool]

Don Rafa made him an offer he couldn't refuse ...

[honourablegeorge]

Sounds like Rafa tapped him up.

 

 

"Tapping up" is an English thing, Spanish players free to talk to anyone at any time, hence them having buyout clauses.

[Bo Benn]

For some reason I've always wondered how Rafa introduces himself on the phone.

 

'It's me'

 

enough

[Woodsyla]

“It is a team that is already solid. I was running around trying to follow their moves but I’m still miles away to accomplish that efficiently.”

 

That's my favourite bit, that says to me he has come here to learn and to improve and that he doesn't expect to just 'slot' in immediately.

 

I reckon he is gonna be a star, my first signing in FF this season

[Billy Dane]

“I can see I could be useful when we use the counter-attack, with the long balls of Gerrard or the passes from Xabi [Alonso],”

 

 

Gerrard hoofs, Xabi passes?

 

Great interview.

[Ronnie Whelan]

“I was surprised but did not realise the dimension of what I was hearing till I hung up,” Torres said. “Then I thought, ‘Wow, this club that can get anybody in the world has rung me, they want me.’”

 

Nice little piece.

 

He seems really gounded. He just had a big money move but is willing to put in the hard work to prove his worth.

 

 

It's on.

[muleskinner]

"Tapping up" is an English thing, Spanish players free to talk to anyone at any time, hence them having buyout clauses.

 

I'm not sure it's an English thing, PSV weren't too happy with Ferguson tapping up Jaap Stam and van Nistlerooy.

[honourablegeorge]

Not solely English then. Not Spanish.

[Eskimo]

tapping up is illegal full stop...

[Maldini]

Rafa didn't have to introduce himself at all, the celestial choir was the only introduction necessary

[Swipe]

Rafa didn't have to introduce himself at all, the celestial choir was the only introduction necessary

 

His new beard would have scratched against the speaker on his phone, making an unmistakeable sound.

[Dan]

Great article in the Echo

 

TORRES: A working class hero is all that I want to be

Jul 13 2007 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW by Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

 

TO some players, signing for Liverpool represents the summit of their ambition.

 

Too many of the club’s most recent record signings have seen a lucrative Anfield contract primarily as a passport to fame and fortune, bringing their years of toil elsewhere to an end while they reap the rewards of their newly acquired reputation.

 

The compulsion to continue to improve as a player, or put in the extra hours to inspire their side to glory, has often appeared secondary to living off the status of being a Liverpool player.

 

It comes as a refreshing relief that the latest multi-million pound recruit, Fernando Torres, breaks this trend.

 

Torres has left his iconic standing in Madrid, where he could have stayed a local hero for the rest of his career, to start from scratch and test himself on Merseyside.

 

When asked if he felt joining Liverpool for such a massive fee was evidence enough that he’s already proved his credentials at the highest level, the reaction is joyously humble.

 

“If I had the idea I’d already be a success just by joining Liverpool, I wouldn’t have come,” says the 23-year-old.

 

“To achieve the level the people here demand of me I know I will have to work hard all the time.

 

“To hit this level I must be focused completely on my football. I could have stayed where I was comfortable, but what attracted me to Liverpool is it’s a working team.

 

“The gaffer has put a mentality into the team that means everyone must work hard for success.

 

“This is known to be a key characteristic of Benitez’s side and I like this.

 

“I also like that Liverpool is a working class area with supporters who I believe are similar to those of Atletico, who appreciate and respect hard work.

 

“At this kind of club, there is usually a special bond between the players and the supporters. It means there is a different spirit about the city and the club compared to some others.

 

“Although the players have told me about the mentality of the Liverpool people, and how the fans are, I don’t think this is something which can be explained in words.

 

“It is only something I can understand when I play my first game at Anfield against Chelsea. Then I will fully know about the relationship between the Liverpool supporters and the players.”

 

Torres revealed on his arrival he had no interest in leaving Atletico for any other club than Liverpool.

 

That’s partly, he says, due to the obvious Spanish connections.

 

But he also admits the hunger he could sense at a club seeking its first title in 18 years appealed to his sentiments.

 

“I know how much everyone at Liverpool want to win the title because it’s been many years since the club has done it,” he said.

 

“But with the squad we have right now I’m sure we can compete for all the trophies.

 

“Unfortunately, Atletico isn’t at the level it should be given the size of the club and its history. I hoped to reach certain targets and achieve ambitions with Atletico but it wasn’t possible.

 

“Liverpool are always competing for the league or Champions League and I feel I needed to take this step to compete against the best players in the world.

 

“After being in two Champions League finals in three years, Liverpool has the respect it deserves so it’s not difficult to understand why I would want to come here.

 

“There were other factors in my decision, of course. Having a Spanish manager and other Spanish players who’ve told me about the club makes it better for me, but mainly I want to compete for important trophies.”

 

There’s no doubt Torres has left a comfort zone in Spain where, despite tremendous pressures on young shoulders, he could do no wrong in the eyes of Atletico fans.

 

One senses he’s relishing the challenge of winning over supporters who’ll cast their own judgement in the months to come.

 

“Every club has its own identity and players who are icons, but it takes time, good performance and good results to earn respect,” he says.

 

“I understand that Liverpool has Carra and Steven Gerrard who have that link with the supporters because they’ve been here and great players for a long time.

 

“At Atletico, I was young and a supporter of the club so I had a similar relationship with the fans, but I recognise to achieve the same here will only be possible with hard work. I can promise I will try my best.

 

“Everything has been perfect so far. I’ve only had a small opportunity to walk around the city but the reception towards me has been very warm, which instantly makes me feel comfortable.

 

“I’ve been amazed by the club because already I see the big difference in the organisation of the English and Spanish clubs in terms of the attention shown to the players.

 

“It makes me realise there is still a lot to learn in Spain. I would like to thank everyone for making me feel so welcome.”

 

Torres will miss out on a debut at Crewe tomorrow, but should be fit to face Werder Bremen in Switzerland on Tuesday.

 

“I’m looking forward to wearing the number nine shirt for the first time,” he said.

 

“I know what this number means at Liverpool and those who’ve worn it. It brings a lot of responsibility, but I will be proud to wear it.

 

“I’m particularly looking forward to wearing it at Anfield.”