Chelsea striker Fernando Torres could have been a goalkeeper rather than one of the world’s deadliest strikers… but his mum wouldn’t let him.
The former Atletico Madrid and Liverpool goal-getter has scored more than 200 goals for club and country since making his senior debut in 2001, netting in the final of the 2008 European Championships to end Spain’s 44-year wait for an international tournament success.
However, the 27-year-old has revealed that he could have been plying his trade at the opposite end of the pitch, only for an unfortunate accident – and insistent mother – to prematurely end any hopes he harboured of donning the gloves long-term.
“My brother was a keeper and I used to enjoy playing with him in the street. One day the ball knocked my front teeth out and my mum wouldn’t let me play in goal anymore,” he says in the November 2011 issue of FourFourTwo, out now.
“I still enjoy going between the sticks in training and when we’re allowed to choose our own positions that’s often where I head. I like people shooting at me and trying to stop as many as I can.”
Torres has not enjoyed the start he would have hoped for following his British record £50 million move from Liverpool to Chelsea in January, scoring just three goals in 20 league outings.
But, despite a painful miss against Manchester United at Old Trafford, the Spaniard is beginning to show signs of his ‘old’ self – a result of Torres finally settling down to London life following an unexpectedly turbulent transfer from the North West.
“After the last knee operation, the World Cup and a difficult last season, it hasn’t been easy, but I’m feeling a lot better,” he says.
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“It’s been difficult to settle. Arriving and getting to know a new city is a challenge and living in London is very different to Liverpool.
"I thought it would be easy coming from one city in England to another but it took a lot of time and effort to sort everything out.
“Now things are quieter at home and my family are with me, so I don’t have anything to think about other than playing football.”
Read the full in-depth interview with Fernando Torres in the November issue of FourFourTwo – a Manchester derby special.
It features exclusive interviews with Ashley Young, Sergio Aguero, Roberto Mancini, Nemanja Vidic, Micah Richards and Tom Cleverley.Subscribe now!
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
