LIVERPOOL knew they had “kidded” Chelsea when they flogged them Fernando Torres for £50million, revealed Jamie Carragher.
The Anfield legend, 42, claimed the striker was a “shadow of his former self” when he moved to Stamford Bridge in 2011.
Torres established himself as one of the best strikers in the world after he joined the Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007.
The Spaniard scored 56 goals in his first 79 Premier League games, but struggled for form in his final season with the Reds.
And Carragher has insisted he “couldn’t believe” the Blues forked out a huge £50million to sign the struggling star.
Speaking on a call with Blues legend John Terry, he said: “I couldn’t believe it.
“I knew we had kidded Chelsea. Those last 12 months, he was a shadow of his former self.
“For 18 months at Liverpool, he was the best striker in the world, and I think he had such a good record against Chelsea that obviously stuck in the owner’s mind.
“I think the owner was still buying players who he wanted, Shevchenko was another case.
“What happened that was fortunate for Liverpool, that season we played Chelsea, and we weren’t having a great season and Torres was having a really poor time but he scored two against Chelsea.
“I think the decision was made then – as soon as January comes, we are going for Fernando Torres.
“£50m was major money at that stage and we were all in a state of shock, we could not believe we had got £50m.
“We ended up doing something similar ourselves in buying Andy Carroll for £35m, but we did get Luis Suarez out of it.
“I was not surprised at all that it didn’t go well.”
Torres was shipped out on loan to AC Milan in 2014 after scoring just 20 times in 110 games for Chelsea.
