Liverpool FC player profile - Fernando Torres

Liverpool FC's Fernando Torres was born on 20th March 1984 in the Spanish town of Fuenlabrada. Fernando Torres first began to play football regularly at the age of seven, when he played for a local team in an indoor league. He moved on to eleven-a-side football at the age of ten, playing for a team called 'Rayo 13' where he scored over fifty goals in his first season. Following this success Fernando Torres earned a trial with Atletico Madrid, the team he'd always supported, and joined the club aged eleven, in 1995. Four years later, aged fifteen, Fernando Torres achieved his first milestone when voted leading player at an under 15 tournament which Atletico Madrid won.

2001 was an important year for Fernando Torres, firstly he won two tournaments playing for the Spanish under 16's, then at the end of the season he earned his debut with the Atletico Madrid senior squad against Leganés. The following week Fernando Torres scored his first senior goal in a Segunda Division match against Albacete. 2002 saw Atletico Madrid's return to La Liga and Fernando Torres stepped up to the plate scoring 13 goals in 29 appearances, the following season he improved his ratio of goals scoring 19 in 35 games in addition to which he was named captain of the side.

By the 2005/06 season the ability shown by Fernando Torres, combined with Atletico Madrid's lack of qualification for European tournaments, meant that it would only be a matter of time before he moved to a bigger club. At the end of the 2006 season Fernando Torres rejected the approaches of Chelsea but the following July (2007), after much speculation, he signed for Liverpool FC for a reported record fee of £20 million. Fernando Torres made his Liverpool FC debut at Aston Villa on 11th August 2007 and scored his first goal for the club the following week in a 1-1 home draw against Chelsea. By the end of his first season with Liverpool FC Fernando Torres had scored 24 goals, a new record for a foreign player in his debut season in the Premier League.