Former Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has announced his retirement from professional football, aged 35. Torres most recently plied his trade for Japanese club Sagan Tosu.
The Spaniard wrote, as quoted by Sky Sports: “I have something very important to announce. After 18 exciting years, the time has come to put an end to my football career.”
Torres widely regarded as a Chelsea flop
Torres shone while he was on the books of Atletico Madrid in his homeland of Spain as well as Liverpool. He joined Chelsea in January 2011 for a then British transfer record sum of £50 million. He went on to spend four years on the books of the Blues and these were less than successful as he scored just 20 Premier League goals for the club from 110 games. By contrast, he scored 65 Premier League goals for Liverpool from 102 games.
In other words, the Spaniard scored more than three times as many goals for Liverpool than Chelsea in spite of having played fewer games for the Merseyside giants.
After leaving Chelsea in 2015, Torres never managed to rediscover the form which made the Blues take him on in the first place. He went on to have spells with AC Milan, and even returned to Atletico, but was a shadow of his former self.
Torres had legendary career on the whole
In spite of his less than successful spell with Chelsea, nobody can deny that Torres was a clinical striker during his heyday. He was also part of the golden generation of Spanish football which dominated between 2007-2013. Torres went on to play 110 games for Spain and helped his nation to win two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup. He famously scored the winning goal for his country during their 1-0 victory over Germany in the Euro 2008 final and also went on to score for Spain during the 2012 Euro final in which they demolished Italy 4-0.
