Is there any football fan who still actively dislikes Fernando Torres? Liverpool fans who once may have been put out by the manner of his departure have surely come to understand that, at the time, his sale was the right move for the club and the player.
Chelsea fans see a player that just didn't work out but one who certainly did not disrespect the club while he was there and neutrals everywhere can see a genuinely regrettable case of a once exemplary footballer turning into a shadow of his former self. It wouldn't be right to say that fans pity him, this is a World Cup and European Championship winner after all. However, the prevailing feeling seems to be that no one could begrudge him a move back to his home as he enters the twilight of his career.
And that is exactly what it is. He may always be El Niño to those at the Vicente Calderon, but his youthful exuberance is far behind him. Torres slowed down, his confidence deserted him and the questionable touch that he once masked with pace was laid out for all to see. As far as age goes, Torres might only be thirty but can you really see him dominating the Bundesliga in three years time a la Xabi Alonso?
By way of a somewhat complicated transfer to Atletico via Milan, Fernando Torres has definitively left Chelsea. And it must be said his departure has given closure to perhaps the worst transfer in the history of world football. Torres failed on a personal level, however, he still views his time in London as 'a success' according to the Telegraph.
Chelsea gave me what I was looking for when I left Liverpool - trophies. I'll always see it as a success.
That is quite a large part of why most of us will still be hoping that he turns things around. Torres has always come across as if his slump in form really affected him. For all the wages he was picking up at Chelsea, you got the feeling that if he could trade it all in to turn the clock back four or five years, he would.
Although Atletico may come to regret bringing home Torres, it's the move that had to happen eventually. One good season back in Madrid may be all that's needed for history to look back on Fernando Torres' career, on a whole, as a success (even if he is stretching things to say that his time at Chelsea was one).
