Milan started the 2014/15 Serie A campaign in style as they beat Lazio 3-1 at the San Siro stadium last month.
That was the tonic the Rossoneri needed as they embarked on a new campaign looking to make up for last season’s poor showing which saw them missing out on European qualification for the first time since 1998.
Watching Milan play Lazio from the stands was Fernando Torres, the striker who joined them from Chelsea this summer.
Besides the Spaniard, Milan also landed goalkeeper Diego Lopez (Real Madrid), Alex and Jeremy Menez (both Paris SG), Pablo Armero (Napoli), Giacomo Bona-ventura (Atalanta) and Marko van Ginkel (Chelsea).
Torres, a youth product of Atletico Madrid, became one in a long list of seasoned players who moved to the Serie A after spending their prime playing elsewhere.
Torres was a gamble worth taking according to Jose Mourinho
The 30-year-old had joined Liverpool in 2007 and scored 65 goals in 102 league appearances for the Reds, including 24 in his first season. In so doing, ‘El Nino’ became the first Liverpool player to score more than 20 league goals in a single campaign since Robbie Fowler in 1995/96.
In January 2011, Torres moved to Chelsea for a then UK record fee of £50m but struggled to live up to his hefty price tag.
At Stamford Bridge, Torres’s form declined sharply (20 goals in 110 league matches). The excellent reputation he had built while at the Calderon and Anfield was replaced by a collection of exceptional misses in a Chelsea shirt.
Nevertheless, Torres was part of the Chelsea team that lifted the Champions League and FA Cup under Italian coach Roberto Di Matteo in 2012.
He scored the Londoners’ opening goal in a last-gasp 2-1 win over Benfica in the 2013 Europa League final in Amsterdam.
In season 2011/12, Torres’s confidence was at its lowest ebb. So much so that Di Matteo preferred to start with the untried and untested Ryan Bertrand in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
In that game, Torres, who formed part of the Spanish national team side that won three major tournaments in succession between 2008 and 2012, was introduced only as an 84th minutesubstitute.
Torres’s last few months at Anfield were marred by a succession of injuries which deprived him of the once trademark turn of pace. His plight became even more frustrating at Chelsea.
Not even the appointment of Rafa Benitez as Blues’ interim manager (between November 2012 and May 2013) did help Torres rediscover his scoring form.
Benitez was the one who had paid €20m for a then 23-year-old Torres to prise him away from Atletico Madrid to join Liverpool in July 2007.
Now, some critics are doubting if Torres can hit the goals for Milan whose objective this season is to mount a challenge for a top-three finish.
In these last few years, due to the club’s dire financial state, Milan’s purchasing power was weakened significantly. That forced the club to opt for seasoned players or free agents at favourable terms.
Recently, Milan tried their luck with Michael Essien (Chelsea) and Riccardo Kaka (Real Madrid) but results were not in line with the club’s expectations.
Torres was a gamble worth taking according to Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea boss who also hinted that he would have been happier had the striker joined Milan’s rivals Inter who the Portuguese coached between 2008 and 2010.
The transfer to Milan could help Torres put an end to his long, drawn-out decline in the Premier League. For sure, the pace in Serie A is slower and that will help Torres settle down more quickly in his new environs.
As with other former greats, Torres will never scale the heights he did during his prime years of his career but he can still prove to be a valuable addition to Filippo Inzaghi’s new-look Milan.