Former
Liverpool and
Chelsea forward
Fernando Torres has announced his retirement from
football at the age of 35. The Spaniard, who started his career at boyhood club
Atletico Madrid, moved to Liverpool in 2007 for a fee of £20m. Torres sparkled at Anfield and came agonisingly close to guiding the Reds to their first Premier League title in 2009, when he scored 14 goals in 24 appearances as Rafael Benitez’s men finished second behind Manchester United. The 35-year-old spent four seasons on Merseyside before a controversial £50m switch to Chelsea in 2010.
Torres would fail to replicate the form he showed at Anfield during his stint at Stamford Bridge but he left the club in 2014 as a Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup winner. Success on the international stage came in 2008 when Torres scored the winner in Spain’s European Championships final against Germany. The World Cup followed in 2010 but Torres was a periphery figure by the time the European Championships was retained in 2012.
orres briefly joined AC Milan from Chelsea before a return to Atletico in 2015. After four years back in the Spanish capital ‘El Nino’ moved to Sagan Tosu in Japan. Torres announced his decision on Twitter and confirmed he will hold a press conference on Sunday to explain his decision.