five times: september 2012

It seems strange to admit it now, but I had doubts about whether Fernando Torres would be a success at Liverpool.

Two things came into my head when he signed in the summer of 2007 for ￡20.5m from Atletico Madrid. I thought he could bomb because he would not be able to cope with the intensity and physicality of the Premier League having come from Spain and it would be another expensive mistake in the transfer market for the club. But I desperately hoped he would be the signing to take us to the next level. And what a signing he proved to be.

During his hot streak for Liverpool over the next few seasons, Torres was easily the best player I have ever played with in my career. I loved him.

I used to walk onto the pitch every single game convinced I was going to set up a goal for him or score myself. Sometimes I didn’t. Mostly it seemed I did. I knew it was going to happen because Fernando was with me out there. At times, I felt invincible with him in the team alongside me.

In the first training sessions after he arrived, I recognised that his movement was very similar to that of Michael Owen. I thought to myself that I used to love playing with Michael and quickly came round to thinking my initial doubts had been stupid.

Torres was like Michael, but with more power. Sometimes if you played a difficult ball to Michael, the defenders were too big for him and they would win it back. Torres would make bad balls look good. That is how strong and powerful he was. He was a nightmare for defenders, but an absolute dream for me. I used to sit next to him in the dressing room because the pegs for our squad numbers — 8 and 9 — were next to each other and we’d talk like team-mates do.

I wouldn’t say we were overly close. Torres is a really quiet person, although it would be wrong to call him a loner. He was comfortable with the Spainish lads we had in the team like Pepe, Xabi and Alvaro Arbeloa, and the South Americans like Javier Mascherano, but we had a mutual respect of each other and we worked out pretty quickly that we needed one another to shine. He knew that if he made a good run, I would find him, but he also helped to make me become a more potent player as well.

I owe Rafa Benitez a great deal for my development as a player. When Rafa was appointed I had played right-back, and I had also played on the right of midfield from time to time, but I was essentially a box-to-box central midfielder. Rafa helped to make me a more disciplined midfielder and taught me how to time my runs better, which helped me get more goals.

When I went onto the right flank, although I didn’t feel totally comfortable out there, he helped me become a good player there as well. I realised about the sacrifices you make for the team because at that point Liverpool were better setting up with two holding midfielder and, without sounding big-headed, I was enjoying a spell where not being in the middle did not unduly affect the level of my performances.

After that, Rafa helped me become a “No.10” — someone who plays behinds the striker — which I didn’t think I even had in my armoury. I think the key to my success in that position was Torres. I always need to play with someone who can run in behind defences.

I played the odd game there with Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch, but that was different. I was the one who had to run in behind and I had to try and get their flick-ons. It wasn’t the same. Torres would stretch defences, wreaking all manner of havoc, and that gave me space to exploits as well. Together we scored 111 goals in 117 games. Prolific.

The only downside was that we didn’t win anything toghther. My boyhood club is Liverpool. Torres’s boyhood club is Atletico Madrid. He left there in search of trophies and though we reached the semi- finals of competitions, we fell short.

It became obvious that he wasn’t happy at Liverpool, but his departure in 2011 still hit me hard. Very hard. Every player is entitled to do what they want to do in their career. I don’t own anyone else’s career and I can’t make decisions for them. But when you love playing with someone and you have a player alongside you of Torres’s calibre, then you cannot help out feel sorry for yourself and the fans who adored him. You wonder where the club is going if the best players want to leave, but I didn’t feel let down by Liverpool.

There was nothing they could do to prevent him from leaving for Chelsea. His mind was set, but they made it as hard as they could for the ￡50m deal to happen.

In the days before the transfer, Torres came to see me as captain. He said he wanted to leave, but added that the club was being difficult. “Listen,” I said. “You have to understand that you are a top player and they don’t want to let you go.” It didn’t matter. He asked if I could speak to Kenny Dalglish, our manager, on his behalf. That put me in a difficult situation because I didn’t want to help Fernando. I didn’t want to help Fernando. I didn’t want to tell the manager that the star player wanted to go because, at that point, I wanted the deal to fall through. I wanted Chelsea’s interest to go away and for his enthusiasm to be rekindled. We had just signed Luis Suarez from Ajex for ￡22m. Money was available. We were trying to compete for silverware.

Fernando had told Kenny himself, but, with the club still playing hardball, he asked me to speak as well. I just told Kenny he was unhappy and left it at that. That is the role of the captain that people don’t see and that I never want to experience again. You don’t want your best player to come to you and say, “I’ve had enough. I want to go to another club. And I want to go to one of your major rivals.”

When Fernando approached me and said he wanted out, it was like a knife to the heart.

——Steven Gerrard（My Liverpool Story）

hahah jag har suttit och skrattat högt åt majs gamal cp-blogg! fan vad roliga vi var på den tiden, hundraprocentigt störda typ

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