It was back in late January 2011 when Liverpool announced on their website they had rejected a bid from Chelsea for Fernando Torres. The offer was reported to be worth £40 million. After failing to land Torres shortly after Chelsea had completed a domestic double in May 2010, Roman Abramovich would not be denied a third time.

Just before the clock struck midnight on the closing day of the January 2011 transfer window Chelsea announced on their website the signing of a player the owner craved most.

Where Liverpool had adamantly stated through a club spokesperson only a few days earlier that the player fastest in the club's history to register 50 league goals was not for sale, even they could not turn down an English transfer record for the then 26-year old Spaniard.

Robinho's summer 2008 move to Manchester City for £32.5 million had stood as the record until Abramovich wrote that now infamous £50 million cheque to Liverpool for Torres. A player entering his supposed prime years, who only six months earlier had helped Spain bask in the glory of a very first World Cup triumph.

We all know now of course that Torres would not ever rediscover the form for Chelsea he displayed in abundance during his early seasons at Anfield.

His debut season in English football, where Torres became the first Liverpool player in over two decades to score twenty league goals, and 33 in all competitions was followed up in 2008/2009 with a nomination on the three-man short list for FIFA World Player of the Year.

This though was a season where Torres was hampered by a number of hamstring injuries which restricted him to only 24 BPL appearances. It ended with Liverpool recording their best-ever finish in the BPL era, a runners up spot in a season where they pushed Manchester United all the way to the title.

The following season, which culminated in that South African World Cup triumph, was ended early due to a recurring knee injury which required surgery on two occasions. The second of which in April 2010 made Torres a huge doubt to even make Del Bosque's squad.

Make it though Torres did. There would be no match-winning heroics like at EURO 2008 where the lone Torres marker late in the first half was enough for Spain to overcome Germany in the final. Appearing in a World Cup Final is the dream of all footballers, the pinnacle of any professional career. For Torres it heralded the beginning of the end.

Regime change at Anfield in summer 2010 with Hodgson replacing Benitez likely hastened the Spaniard's desire to leave Liverpool and the club which launched him into the conversation as one of the most feared strikers in all of world football.

Much like loaned out players who are prevented from appearing against their own clubs, Torres would most definitely have preferred that his Chelsea debut did not come against Liverpool.

For Liverpool supporters at Stamford Bridge, February 6, 2011 afforded an opportunity to let Torres know how they felt. In the crowd that day I was keenly interested to see how they and Torres would react with their almost instant reunion.

I got my answer as the two teams emerged from the tunnel area and onto the pitch. Out into the glare of the cameras and floodlights, Torres glanced knowingly to the section of the ground where he knew the 3,000 Liverpool supporters would be. 'He Who Betrays Will Always Walk Alone' one banner read.

Taunting Torres each time he touched the ball, Ancelotti had seen enough when he hauled a clearly affected Torres off just after the hour mark. There would be no loving glance to the Liverpool supporters as he took his place on that vastly expensive Chelsea bench.

The man with the £50 million price tag weighed him down like an anchor for the remainder of that 2010/11 season. Torres only scored a solitary goal, which came in his fourteenth appearance, during a BPL match in late April against West Ham. A muddy pitch playing its part as Torres slotted home late in the game, the relief all around was evident in the celebration.

In all Torres would play three more frustrating seasons in West London. The goals didn't flow but the titles did. An FA Cup, Champions League and a Europa League for Chelsea and the EURO 2012 crown, in a competition where Torres was top scorer.

For the defining image of his Chelsea career the jury is still out, and always will be.

Was it that moment back in September 2011 where he wanted the Old Trafford pitch to swallow him hole after he slumped to his knees having rounded De Gea and then proceeded to miss the simplest of open goals?

Or was it when he left Victor Valdes on his knees as he rounded the Barcelona goalkeeper in that April 2012 Champions League semifinal second leg, scoring the decisive goal en route to Chelsea's only ever Champions League triumph in Munich a few weeks later?

Abramovich might be poorer because of the close to $100 million he lavished on Torres, but the club the billionaire Russian owns are certainly richer for it.

With Torres expected to go out on loan next month from the San Siro to Atlético Madrid, the club he has supported since childhood and who he captained at only 19, what price if the two teams are paired again in the later stages of this season's Champions League?

Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca
@TheSoccerNoel on Twitter