Fernando Torres was one of the most beloved strikers during his prime in football, with the player being popularly known as El Niño (‘The Kid’) for his consistent goal scoring rate at a young age. His brilliant pace, finishing skills, and heading abilities were some of his biggest strengths during the height of his career. After a magnificent 6 year spell at Atletico Madrid, England was the next destination where Torres arrived to Showcase his magnificent talents. This article will be looking at Torres’s 4 year stint at Anfield, which arguably saw his greatest ever phase as a player.

A dream debut season

After a brilliant career at Atletico Madrid, Fernando Torres was signed by Liverpool for £20 million in 2007. He scored his first goal for the club on his Anfield debut in the Premier League, as Liverpool and Chelsea shared points in a 1-1 draw. This was the beginning of Torres's greatness at Liverpool, as the Spanish striker began to score crucial goals for the Reds.

Torres went on an unstoppable goal run, which saw him score successive hat-tricks for Liverpool. In doing so, he became the first Liverpool player since Jack Balmer in November 1946 to score a hat-trick in successive home matches. The records kept on coming for Torres, as his 20th league against Reading made him the first Liverpool player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to achieve the feat. As the season ended, Torres finished his first year at Liverpool with 24 league goals. History was made, as he eclipsed Ruud van Nistelrooy's 23 goals to set a new record for the most prolific foreign goal scorer in a debut season in England.

A season of Injuries

Torres began the 2008–09 Premier League season with a goal against Sunderland which saw Liverpool win the Match 1-0. This was followed by a hamstring tear which caused him to miss a few weeks of action. Upon his return, Torres was back to goalscoring ways and kept scoring crucial goals for the club. However, he suffered from yet another hamstring injury during a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier match. This caused the player to miss 3 more games for Liverpool, including a Champion League match against his former club Atletico Madrid.

The same sequence went on to be repeated, as the Spanish striker returned for Liverpool and ended up injuring his hamstring again. Despite the constant injury issues, Torres was brilliant whenever he played for the Reds. He even got the 3rd position for FIFA World Player of the Year, only behind Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The entire 2008-09 season was overshadowed by injuries to a huge extent for Torres. His passion for the game and club was evident during this phase as well, with Torres using a painkilling injection to enable himself to play against Real Madrid in the Champions League that season. Despite all the difficulties, he managed to end the season on a high. Torres scored his 50th goal in just 84 appearances for Liverpool against Spurs on the final day of the 2008-2009 season.

Back to his best

The 2009–10 season saw Fernando Torres back to his best for Liverpool, as he continued to impress with his brilliant goal scoring abilities. His goalscoring feats saw him named as the Premier League Player of the Month for September, and he was also the league top scorer at this time. Torres continued his magnificent form, which even saw the Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez praise the player. His season was unfortunately cut short by April though, as he would end up missing the rest of the season to undergo knee surgery. Despite his lengthy absence, Torres still managed to finish the season as Liverpool's top scorer with 22 goals in 32 games for all competitions.

Departure

After making a few appearances for Liverpool in the 2010–11, Torres was sold by Liverpool to Chelsea for £50 million during the January transfer window. The move set a new record for a British transfer at the time, and it made him the sixth most expensive player in history at the time.

That was the end of El Niño at Liverpool, who established himself as one of the greatest strikers in club history in just 4 years.

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