Jamie Carragher admits he ‘could not believe’ that Chelsea paid £50m for Fernando Torres following the forward’s controversial move from Liverpool to Stamford Bridge in 2011.
Torres established himself as one of the finest forwards in European football during a prolific three-and-a-half-year spell at Liverpool, scoring 81 goals in just 142 appearances for the club before heading to the capital on a dramatic deadline day nine years ago.
The move saw Torres become the most expensive player in British football history but he struggled to replicate his previous form during a disappointing spell at Chelsea, scoring just once in his first 18 appearances in all competitions after arriving in the winter window.
Carragher admits he was surprised by the Blues’ big-money bid for the Spanish star, admitting he had already seen signs of decline in his former teammate following his brief period as one of the division’s best.
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“I couldn’t believe it. And what I mean by that was I knew we’d kidded Chelsea,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “I’d played with Torres then for the past 12 months and he was a shadow of his former self. I think for 18 months at Liverpool he was the best striker in the world.
“I think he had such a good record against Chelsea, and that may have sort of stuck in the owner’s mind. He scored two against Chelsea that season, when we won 2-0 under Roy Hodgson. And I think the decision was probably made then for Roman Abramovich.
“I mean £50m was major money at that stage, and I think we were in a state of shock. Of course we were gutted Torres was going, but we could not believe we’d got £50m.
“We ended up probably doing something similar ourselves in some ways, getting Andy Carroll for £35m, but we also got Luis Suarez out of it. I was not surprised at all that it didn’t go well for Fernando Torres at Chelsea.”
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