Manchester City has finally signed Ferran Torres, a 17-year-old player that is expected to fill in the void left by Leroy Sane. Torres will be paid an initial fee of $27.3 million and will be under contract with the Sky Blues until 2025.
According to Sky Sports, the deal has been made official, making Torres the first official signing of Pep Guardiola. Considered one of the promising stars in the game today, the unpredictable nature of Torres is what captured the interest of Guardiola. He carries similar qualities to Sane, someone who can also play at either flank.
Last season, Torres appeared in 34 games for Valencia CF and scored four goals. He is one of few players to have played in 100 games at the age of 20, a reason why several clubs expressed interest in him.
Valencia is facing financial trouble, a reason why they decided to shop Torres. The budget issues were already present even before the COVID-19 pandemic came into the picture.
Torres is aware of the success that City has had and will now look to be part of bigger things. He is looking forward to helping the club and be of help in any way to the club's continued success.
"I am so happy to be joining City. Every player wants to be involved in attacking teams and Manchester City is one of the most attacking in world football," Torres said. "Pep encourages a really open, aggressive style, which I love, and he is a manager with a proven track record of improving players. To have him overseeing my development is a dream."
However, Torres could not hide his frustration with his former team, revealing that he was told last year that he would be the fifth-choice winger for the club. He decided to leave after learning that Los Murcelagos told him they weren't counting on him as an important first-team player heading into the 2019-20 season.
"It was a very hard blow for me, but what was worse was that they even put me on the market and offered me to teams in Spain. There were calls from 12 La Liga clubs, including Levante and one Segunda Division club. That's when I started thinking about leaving," Torres said in a report by Marca.
With things going in disarray, Torres is not closing the door on possibly returning to Valencia in the future. But for now, his focus is to develop further and help the Sky Blues in whatever way he can.
"I'm sure I can [return to Valencia one day]. I refuse to think otherwise. Even if there are crooked people. A lot of them won't be there in a few years and I'll have shown that I deserve to return."
