9:34PM BST 30 Aug 2012
The scorer of 65 goals in 91 starts at Liverpool excited massive expectation
when he joined
With Drogba now playing in China and with Torres having scored two goals in
three
“That experience last season taught me a lot of things,” said Torres. “Now I know my position in this club, what I have to do. I learned a lot of things last season: good, bad.
“I’d never been on the bench like eight games in a row, as I was. I’d never been that part of the team. I started to understand everyone in the team.
“It was a new experience. I learned a lot of things about that, which made me a better team-mate. I went back to when I was 17 or 18, having to fight every day for my place. I was stronger for that although I never want to go back to that situation again.”
The price tag always came up as an issue, but it was never one for Torres. “The money never was a problem. The money Chelsea paid for me was never something I was worried about. It didn’t make me play badly.
“It was just a difficult change from
“The end of the season was brilliant for the club, for me and for everyone. It made me a better player, a better person, and I'm stronger than ever now. I would change nothing if I could go back. I would change nothing that happened to me last season.”
At the heart of his transformation was a discussion with manager Roberto Di Matteo and with the club hierarchy that changed his perceptions of life, his club and his football.
“I had a conversation with Robbie and with the board, and said what I felt about last season and what I wanted in the future,” said Torres. “Five minutes after that everything was clarified.
“I’m here because I have an important part to play for this team, but I couldn’t say a bad word about Chelsea. They made a big effort to buy me, and I have a lot of things still to do for this club.
“I want to win everything I haven’t won yet. We’ve won the Champions League. Hopefully we can win it one more time. Still there’s plenty of things to do. I’m not going to give up. I never did and I’m not about to.”
He has the chance to add to his medal collection in the Super Cup against his alma mater, Atlético Madrid.
Torres reckons the club he left for Liverpool in 2007 are a very “balanced” team with a strong mentality and “a fighting spirit”.
That is what Chelsea have become since a summer’s investment that has brought in the creativity of Eden Hazard and Oscar. So soon after Victor Moses joined them and Cesar Azpilicueta at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have still not finished.
Bayer Leverkusen striker Andre Schurrle looks set to join before the transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday in a deal approaching £20 million, a move that might even see Daniel Sturridge allowed to move out on loan. Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda are, though, likelier to move on.
“If nobody leaves, that’s OK,” said Di Matteo. “I’m pretty happy with what we have.” So, too, is Torres.
