The signing of Ferran Torres (21 years old) was simmered and cooked behind the scenes since the end of October, when the signing of Barcelona began to take shape at Barça. Xavi Hernandez to replace the fired Ronald Koeman. In the first conversations with the Terrassa coach, he already made it clear that his priority for the January market was the signing of a wing player who also scored a goal. And as Mundo Deportivo explained, the ones he liked the most were Ferran Torres (Manchester City) y Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig). The club did their investigations and saw that with Olmo it would be very difficult to get him out of his club in January. Instead, with Ferran there was a choice for various reasons.
First of all, Pep Guardiola He had told his men, and he publicly acknowledged it, that if any of them wanted to leave, they should tell them, that the important thing was to be happy. Just as he told them that if they once told him that they had an offer from Barça or Madrid and that they wanted to accept it, he could not tell them not to do it and retain them. It also had its weight that Ferran was injured (‘broke’ in October in the Nations League with the national team) when his agent, Hector Peris, He learned of the interest of Barça. That Ferran not being the protagonist in the phase in which a possible exit from City was brewing, the window of opportunity was somewhat larger. Of course, City always made it clear – and Barça had that information – that it would only accept a transfer according to the quality and age of the player, never a loan.
Before the Barcelona offensive, Ferran was seen with Xavi and the connection between the two was total. Torres was shown as a plain boy, willing to give his skin for Barça and assume the responsibility and pressure of leading the attack game, as well as to comply with the technical requests of the coach. A footballer who has met two demanding guys like Guardiola Y Luis Enrique in that sense had a great guarantee in the eyes of Xavi. Ferran The meeting with Terrassa ended delighted. Later he also saw Laporta and again there was a ‘crush’. Ferran He expressed himself in Valencian and showed his desire to fight his signing for Barça, something that the president loved. The third key meeting was already with Pep Guardiola. In the same Ferran He asked his coach that he wanted to leave because his dream was to succeed at the Camp Nou. Pep He couldn’t help but be consistent with his speech and told Ferran that he would let him out if the clubs agreed.
The final blow came when Matthew German Y Ferran Reverter, on November 26, they met with Ferran Soriano, CEO of City, and not to ask for a loan, but to make an offer of 40 million that later rose to 45. City had to listen to Barça because that was not a charity request but a serious and formal offer that also had the player’s OK. The secrecy in Barça’s efforts until that trip had been total, only put in ‘danger’ by MD when on the 11th he published on the cover that Xavi wanted an extreme and that he liked Ferran. Before the consultations, the parties threw balls out, but something had … Something that has ended in signings.