‘I had several opportunities to sign for Real Madrid’

Barcelona forward Ferran Torres has revealed that he previously rejected the chance to join Real Madrid.

The 22-year-old moved to Camp Nou in January 2022, joining Barca on a five-year deal after an 18-month stint at Premier League champions Manchester City.

But the Spaniard has now revealed to El Partizado de Cope that he could have been lining up in the white of Real Madrid had he made different choices earlier in his career.

“When I was young I had several opportunities to sign for Real Madrid but we saw that it was not the time,” Torres admitted.

“In one instance I was in the World Cup and I went up to the Valencia first team and I think that was the right move. The other three, I was younger and gave more importance to being closer to home, and we decided to continue with my family and I where we were.”

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Torres also revealed that despite a slow start to life at Barcelona, he has not been overwhelmed by the pressure of playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Indeed, he confirmed that he is only focused on improving as a player and learning from previous failings.

“I have not been overwhelmed,” Torres revealed. “I was very calm. I’m a winger, not a striker, but I have the ability to score and when I can I also have to give assists.

“I’m proud that I’ve given the team more beyond scoring goals. I’m an ambitious player and when I fail I want to learn.

“I don’t eat my head off because you can finish badly, I look back at things so I can improve.”