Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard told Fernando Torres to leave the club for Chelsea in 2011, reports the Daily Mirror.
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The Anfield hero told the Spaniard to do what was best for himself and leave while the forward was debating whether or not to stay with the Reds. In the end though, the decision to depart didn’t really work out for the now 31-year-old – at least on a permanent level.
The never impressed with the Stamford Bridge outfit and has since moved back to boyhood club Atletico Madrid.
Gerrard himself nearly joined the London club after winning the Champions League in 2005 according to the Mirror, but decided to stay with the Reds in the end. He is finally leaving Liverpool this summer and joining MLS side LA Galaxy.
Torres said: “There’s one player that influenced me above anyone else and that’s Gerrard. He changed my career, my ambition, wanting to win, he changed everything. Even when I was leaving Liverpool he told me ‘go, think about yourself. Do what’s best for you – you’ve nothing to prove.’
“He changed the way I saw things, telling me that I could get much higher than what I had always thought. I’ll never find a team-mate like him.”
Had the midfielder told his teammate to stay, who knows what could have happened? Could star forwards Luis Suarez and the Spain international have played together for the Merseyside club? Maybe – just maybe – Liverpool wouldn’t have splurged £35 million on Andy Carroll…