The drop was especially evident when he came back from WC10 for the start of the 10/11 season. Obviously it wasn’t a great Liverpool side, but something looked different. His best period remains absolutely his first season with us and when he was fit in his second.
Yeah if you look at the team he walked into - CL finalists and winners two years earlier whom he left his beloved boyhood club for whom he captained at ~22(?) to win things - he would have been very disappointed in how it all went (from a team perspective at least).
Of course. He leaves Atletico for Liverpool in order to win trophies. The sad thing is that Rafa’s last trophy came already in '06. The team got gradually better, but there were no trophies between 2006 and 2010 (and then 2012). Plus the events that led to a horrible club situation.
I think the pay being offered at Chelsea was too good for him to refuse as well. I will have to check on how much he was earning at Liverpool compared to what he was getting at Chelsea.
That doesn’t mean he’s a mercenary , but it is a combination of all reasons.
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I am sure that helped, but he had turned down Chelsea before coming to Liverpool. He left Atletico because LFC offered him a chance to compete in the CL, once that it was gone (and on ugly terms), I think it was mostly self-preservation.
I’d agree with this. He was on 110000 a week at Liverpool and on 175k at Chelsea.
That’s not a huge increase considering he was by that point widely regarded as being one of the top 3 strikers in the world.
65K a week is not a huge increase? What the fuck do you do for a living?
Maybe Jadon Sancho is moonlighting as a LFC equivalent of Mubbs?
He needs to find something to fill the time.
Cut out his taxes.
The whole point is that salary increases beyond a point doesn’t always transfer to much more money
I think LFC tried to sell Macca to Barca the season before…I might be wrong.
I dont blame any player for leaving under Hodgson and H&G.
Forgive him for what exactly? We were in dire straits and had Hodgson as manager. He was offered a better job essentially. Only the fan within us would say they wouldn’t have done the same.
Hurt like hell when he left, have never got as emotionally invested in a player as a result. His first few years here he was untouchable, best in the business and he was a joy to watch.
if torres stayed fit in 08/09 we’d have won league by a mile
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Kenny was already in charge when he asked to leave. Played a few games under him. But yeah, we didn’t look good overall and he went to chase trophies. From Chelsea’s point of view, it wasn’t a transfer with the most sense.
Yeah Kenny had just taken over and Suarez was on his way. What a treat that would have been. But the damage had been done already and he was on his way.
Torres leaving is no different to you working for your company who promise you a promotion, better pay, better pension, better working conditions, more holiday and they are investing in the best tech to help you do your job and are looking to employ the best to take the company to the next level…
Then do the opposite.
They then bring in a manager no one respects as clueless, your mates start to leave and they start selling off all the gear and the work place becomes horrible place to work.
You go for job interview and the other company can give you all the above and more. So you hand in notice and go.
They did, I remember a £12 million fee was agreed. It doesn’t sound much now, but in the 90’s it was a decent amount. McMannaman decided to stiff us and ran the last 12 months of his contract down.
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Barca negotiated that in bad faith and while they put a lot in the press about their interest in him and what they were willing to pay for him never got far enough for us or the player to make any decision over it. What they were really doing was trying to sign Rivaldo and using supposed interest in someone else as a bargaining chip.
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Didn’t Macca say he wasn’t consulted about that move so decided he was taking control of his future himself.