'He was daring, brave': the story behind Ferran Torres's rapid rise

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Manchester City forward with an ‘I refuse to sink’ tattoo was fast-tracked but not always memorable to teammates

The usual routine here is for a former teammate to talk about how good Ferran Torres was, how he made an immediate impact and everyone knew that he was going to be a star from the very first day, especially him. How he came on for his debut and left everyone open-mouthed. Things, though, don’t always turn out as you expect. “I can’t even remember, to be honest,” says one member of the Mestalla side the day the 16-year-old played his first game with them in Spain’s third tier, a 2-0 defeat by Mallorca B in October 2016.

He didn’t stand out, then? “Not with us he didn’t,” the player says, and then starts laughing. “Seemed a nice kid, quiet. Very good in training, I do remember that. To be fair, he wasn’t with us long.” Soon Torres was moving on: fast-tracked into Mestalla, Valencia’s B team, he was moved to the first team quickly too, long identified as the player in an academy with an impressive record of producing players, including Jordi Alba, Isco and the man Torres admired as a kid and whose No 21 shirt he took at Manchester City: David Silva.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/31/ferran-torres-manchester-city-valencia-story-behind-his-rise

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