Fernando Torres Interview: Instigation of Liverpool Fans or Justification?

Fernando Torres seems to be making no efforts to mend the relations that had been soured by the deadline day transfer to Chelsea.

The fans had been more than angry at him for his decision to quit Liverpool just three weeks after he claimed that he is going nowhere in an interview to The People magazine.

He insisted then that he would see out his contract and asked the fans to get behind the team.

But when Chelsea came knocking, he decided to abandon ship and pack his bags.

As expected, the fans were angry, but most people believed that with time the fans would get over the rage and respect the contribution that Torres made to the club.

I was one of those who did not want Torres to rot in hell for his transfer, though I felt that he could have handled it better.

Then out of the blue came the interview to the Spanish newspaper Marca where he has said a lot of things that would do no good in mending his relations with the Liverpool fans.

The first thing he claims was that he had decided to leave much before the actual transfer. Then why, in an interview on January 9, did he claim that he wanted to see out his contract?

He claimed that the sale of players like Alonso, Mascherano, Crouch and Arbeloa with out any visible reinforcements arriving made him believe that Liverpool was a selling club. 

There might be some truth to that argument as under Hicks and Gillett, Liverpool had become a selling club. If he had forced through a move in the summer, no one would have blamed him. But he was not allowed to do so in the summer.

But when the new owners took over, in their very first transfer window, they signalled their intention by splashing out over 20 million on Luis Suarez. 

If that was not the display of intent of getting back to the top, I don't understand what would be. There may have been broken promises, but all those were under the previous regime. 

It has been proved that even the Manchester City model requires time to succeed as its been three seasons since the new owners took over at City, but they are still yet to win anything. 

So, did Liverpool not deserve some time to mend the issues of their own as well?

The greatness he claims exists in the Chelsea dressing room may soon be gone with the imminent departures of Drogba, Malouda and Anelka. Abramovich may well splash cash to rebuild the Chelsea team, to get that greatness back again, but that is something that could be done by Liverpool as well. 

He also talked about a lighter atmosphere in the Chelsea dressing room. Well, that is expected when a team is succeeding and are the current Champions. Liverpool dressing room, as expected, would have been a little tense because of the results which were below expectations.

He talked about lack of honesty in the world of football. But if he had looked closely at himself and asked whether he was honest with the fans himself. 

He gave interviews all through the season where he claimed that there is no chance that he would abandon the club. This just probably proved his statement that no one—including himself—is honest in the world of football. 

Whether the aim of the interview was to justify his decision to leave Liverpool or give the Chelsea fans more lip-service, its not clear.

However, it would do little to mend relations with the fans.

I am one of those Liverpool fans who still wishes Torres well and would want him to achieve great things at Chelsea, except when they are playing against Liverpool. I guess all of us have to respect his contribution to the club. 

Many people would ask me to get over Torres and look at the future, but it becomes difficult when the old issues keep coming up again and again.

My one advice to Torres would be to keep mum about Liverpool and talk about his Chelsea career than the one he left behind at Liverpool.