According to reports in Spanish media, Real Madrid have been interested in Barcelona star forward Ferran Torres since he was a kid. They tried to sign him on four different occasions but ended up being unsuccessful each time.
The 22-year-old has adapted to life at Barcelona really well. The Spaniard was the marquee signing for the Catalans in the winter transfer window and arrived from Manchester City for a price of 55 million euros. Torres has contributed to nine goals in 13 matches already and has also been an essential part of Xavi’s plans in attack.
He is also expected to be key when Barcelona take on arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu on March 20. As per Diario SPORT, Torres has been hotly pursued by Los Blancos in the past.
Apparently, Real have been interested in the player ever since he was a 10-year-old kid. However, a possible move was quickly ruled out as the player’s family didn’t want to put that much pressure on him at such a young age.
The next interest from Real Madrid arrived four years later, who explored the idea of converting him into a right-back. Ferran, being a forward who can play anywhere in offence, didn’t like the idea and insisted on carrying on at Valencia. He kept rising through the ranks at a rapid pace and made his first-team debut for Los Che at the age of 17 and became the first player born in the 2000s to play in La Liga.
He was soon included in Spain’s squad for the U17 World Cup in India. The tournament brought many future superstars into the limelight, including the likes of England’s Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden and USMNT’s Sergino Dest.
Following his displays at the youth World Cup, Los Blancos rekindled their interest in the player but were unwilling to meet his release clause of 8 million euros. However, the player renewed his contract and was promoted to the first team at Valencia on January 1, 2018, which increased his release clause to 25 million euros.
Real Madrid’s final attempt to sign Torres arrived in the summer of 2020 when the player admitted he was unhappy with the project at Valencia and wanted to leave. The pandemic took a massive fiscal toll on Real and thus hindered them from making a solid financial offer. They instead banked on the idea of waiting a year to sign him for free. However, Manchester City swooped in and signed him before that.
