Barcelona forward Ferran Torres got off to the perfect pre-season start yesterday with a goal against Arsenal. The 23-year-old Spanish international played the second 45 minutes against Arsenal and calmly slotted the ball home for Barca’s third goal late in the game.
Torres has seen his name linked with a number of clubs, but the former Manchester City man is confident that his future remains in Catalonia.
Speaking to the media after the game, Torres had this to say about his future:
"“I have a contract and I’m going to stay. The names are placed by journalists. I am qualified to play for Barça and what is said about me does not matter to me. The reward will come. I am the first self-critic. I learned a lot last year and those ups and downs that I had are helping me in this one.”"
Torres had an up-and-down season last year as Barca won the La Liga title for the first time since 2018/19, but ended the season well despite having his opportunities limited.
At the start of the season, Xavi often preferred Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha to Torres, and with Pedri playing as a false winger on the left, his opportunities were limited.
Last night he came on for Robert Lewandowski at half-time, and while he struggled to get involved in the game at points, that was more down to Barcelona’s inability to control the ball in midfield.
When an opportunity did come his way, he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner which will do his confidence the world of good.
As he mentioned in his quote after the game, he’s his own worst self-critic and last year he revealed he’d been seeing a psychologist after having “fallen into a bottomless well”.
We’ve previously written about how Torres can still turn things around at Barcelona and he’s hoping that his versatility can help him:
"“I can play as a right winger, a left winger, a center forward and even a second striker. And the more positions I play, the more doors I’ll open for myself.”"