Torres: An Intimate Portrait of the Kid Who Became King

now represent in English football and at Liverpool in particular?
     
    SL: ‘In a way, Torres represents the supremacy of English football, as Cristiano Ronaldo does, but Torres more so. We are the league that gets the best players. The Spanish league is strong but we took Torres from the Spanish league and we brought him to England. Cristiano Ronaldo is different. He might be the best player in the world but Cristiano Ronaldo went to Manchester United very young. Torres is a demonstration of the fact that the English league can attract the best players. Now I know we said that at Atlético Madrid maybe he wasn’t the best player but he was a big star.
    ‘Torres demonstrates the strength of the English league and the fact that young, talented players at the top of their game will come to England. He’s shown us that we can develop a more European style – even though I think his style is quite English. We are showing we can bring these players in and we can have success with them. There was a time when we felt in England we would buy a good player, he would come to England and he wouldn’t succeed. Now we’re seeing that we’re buying good players and they succeed because they adapt to us but also the English league is adapting to European football.
    ‘Torres is an indication of the fact that the English league can create loyalty – not have loyalty, create loyalty. You’ve got a player there who’s come to Liverpool and he feels like a Liverpool player now. I think that happens maybe more than it does in Spain and that brings us to what he means for Liverpool. Torres is the nearest thing to Kenny Dalglish because Liverpool has had some brilliant players in their time. They’ve also bought some brilliant players – John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge. But it’s a long time since Liverpool bought a player who the fans think is amazing.
    ‘If you look at Liverpool’s favourite players over the last ten years – Michael Owen, from Liverpool; Robbie Fowler, from Liverpool; Steve McManaman, from Liverpool; Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, from Liverpool. Fernando Torres is probably the first player for a decade that has been brought to Liverpool and everyone has gone, “Bloody hell, this guy is brilliant.” It’s important because it shows Liverpool fans they can bring in great players, they can make great players work and they can start having faith in buying footballers. Kenny Dalglish, although he came from Scotland, was still a bought player. He was the player who was supposed to replace Kevin Keegan and went on to be probably the greatest-ever Liverpool player. Now Liverpool fans won’t say Torres is the best player who’s ever played for them. There’s Steven Gerrard, Graeme Souness, possibly Robbie Fowler because of what he represents, Kenny Dalglish and so on. But I think Torres is possibly the best player Liverpool has bought in ten or fifteen years.
    ‘I think Torres has known how to embrace Liverpool as a club. I did an interview with him not long ago and he said to me that when he turned up he watched videos of Liverpool’s history. He read books about Liverpool’s history and the fans really appreciate that. They appreciate someone who cares, not just someone who plays. I think Fernando Torres has had the intelligence, the decency and the commitment to take Liverpool to heart. Obviously, if he’d gone to Manchester United, he might have done the same but Liverpool fans don’t care about that – he came to Liverpool and he’s done all of that. One of the reasons he’s done that is Rafa Benítez understands what Liverpool is, Xabi Alonso understands what Liverpool is. Rafa Benítez and Xabi Alonso have very intelligent advisers who are Liverpool fans, and who have been able to explain the Liverpool process, and Fernando Torres has built on that and learned from them.
    ‘So Fernando Torres represents for Liverpool, in one word, hope. Torres has brought real hope to Liverpool fans, probably more hope than they’ve had for a long, long time.’
    GB: ‘Torres is the leap forward that the people of Liverpool think will enable them to win everything. Before, they had Gerrard – one of the best midfielders in the world – Hyppia, Skrtel, Xabi Alonso – all top-level players. But with Torres they think he has brought them that extra touch. They have the goalscorer who makes them candidates for everything. He represents the hope, but, more objectively, the possibility of