Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has continued to backtrack in his explanations of why exactly he requested a transfer to Chelsea, now saying that Liverpool is a bigger club than Chelsea just a week after saying that he made the switch in order to play top-level football.
“Liverpool will always be very special to me. Because of its history, Liverpool is a bigger club but it’s going through a difficult time,” he told Spanish radio station Cadena Cer.
“One is not better than the other, I’m just happy to have had the fortune of playing for both of them,” he said, maintaining that Chelsea has been in a higher tier of late. “Chelsea is like Manchester United, the strongest over the last 10 years.”
Torres’ decision, he claims, had nothing to do with money but was instead a simple career move.
“Money was not important. I left to improve sporting-wise,” said Torres.
The 26-year-old Spaniard, in fact, expected to use the 2010-11 year as a “transition season,” but as he grew pessimistic about the club’s future, his attitude worsened and he began to want out — something just about any onlooker could see.
“I thought I would stay one more year and take it as a transition season.
”But a time comes when you lose enthusiasm, you see those in the Spanish national team are playing at a different level,” he added. “Then when everything looked black, Chelsea came and showed a real interest.”
Chelsea is just six points ahead of Liverpool for the final Champions League spot, level on points with Spurs and with a more difficult schedule remaining. The club’s debt and high wages also have put its future in doubt, as it would seem that it would be in direct violation of the new financial fair-play rules, unless it is able to dramatically change its balance sheets in the near future.
Liverpool defeated Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge this past Sunday, completing the double against the Blues.
