There is only one clause in your contract when you sign for Liverpool and that is that you remain respectful to your fans and loyal to the club at all times – no matter the cost.

Torres has come out in the past claiming that Atletico Madrid was his Spanish club and Liverpool his English, but as former Liverpool striker John Aldridge put it yesterday, Torres “has been pretty fraudulent with Liverpool fans, who have stuck with him through thick and thin, and he’s been very thin of late.”

The truth remains that the 26-year-old was told the future plans by manager Roy Hodgson during the summer, which we have all seen ultimately fail.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Liverpool had won both the Champions League and the Super Cup in 2005, alongside the FA Cup and the Community Shield in 2006 and were runners-up in the Champions League in 2007, following a 2-1 defeat to AC Milan.

Torres arrived at the club when it was full of confidence, looking to build on winning a league title after 17 odd years and Liverpool were a real force in European football. His tenure at the club was greeted by Spanish manager Rafael Benitez and a handful of players from the national team, notably Pepe Reina, Xavi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. The Spaniard truly believed that you could never walk alone in a Liverpool jersey.

When Torres left Anfield for Stamford Bridge, goalkeeper Pepe Reina was the only senior Spanish player left in the Liverpool squad, the owners had changed, there had been two managers and they still had not won anything, with Torres only ever experiencing a domestic slot behind rivals Manchester United in the 2008-09 season.

El Nino certainly had time to adapt and make friends at the club during his three year stay on Merseyside, but when you are not winning anything, unhappy and you’re in Liverpool – it must feel like a hell of a long way from home. This is evidently only a small reason for his departure, but most certainly a convincing one – the little nudge needed to convince yourself that Chelsea (yes, you heard me – Chelsea) is the right path to take in your career.

Torres and his agent are clever blokes, and had the £50m buy-out clause written into his contract should the Reds not qualify for the ChampionsLeague for the 2010 season – leaving the Spaniard with a small dash of comfort that he could move to the London outfit should everything go wrong, not move at the right pace or develop to his own liking.

And it didn’t.

Appointing Roy Hodgson as manager was perhaps more of a favour to a coach who had done reasonably well for himself with a mediocre team, rather than Liverpool as a club. However, he convinced Torres to stay, and fair enough – Torres wants to win trophies.

Liverpool experienced their worst start to a domestic season in over 50 years, which not exactly the progress the 26-year-old was looking for.

Six months into the campaign and Torres was convinced that should an offer come his way, he would take his pre-packed bags and venture to his suitor, should it be any Champions League or trophy-winning side such as Manchester United, Barcelona or Chelsea.

It’s fair enough to want to win trophies, and when you’re not from the city you play for, continuing may not seem so much as a battle but as an inconvenience to glory – especially when you’re class like Fernando.

But let’s take a look back at Liverpool’s position in January.

Fenway Sports Group bought the club for £300 million, and intended to do what they did with the Boston Red Sox baseball outfit – invest.

A promise to build a new stadium had been murmured between Gillett and Hicks for years, but with the takeover from FSG and their clean removal of the club’s debt – it was so, so clear in which direction they intended to go with Liverpool.

Damien Comolli was appointed Director of Football in the summer, aka scouting for top players, both youthful and experienced.

According to Guillem Ballague, Torres was not satisfied with where the club were going, as he began to realise that the club was full of empty promises, and that player investment was not to occur under Gillett and Hicks, and by the time the new owners had a chance to splash those lovely $100 bills, the club would not be in a position to challenge for the Champions League.

Liverpool revealed that they rejected summer bids for Fernando from Man City and Chelsea. So he rejected City, wasn’t needed at Barcelona, isolated from Wenger and could never complete a move to Old Trafford due to the Glazer’s financial position, so Chelsea were really the only club left to go to for the level of football triumph he so urgently wanted to challenge for.

There is no doubt that Liverpool is finally turning a corner here with new American owners and Kenny at the helm, but perhaps at 26 (27 next month) Torres was feeling as if he was arriving at his peak and couldn’t afford another few seasons in search of silverware at a club level, and it remains that he will never be loved the same way at Chelsea as by the Kop.

It is obviously no longer a question of loyalty to one’s club, as he submitted his transfer request on Friday evening after receiving the Chelsea bid and set his sights firmly on London.

Chelsea have paid a domestic league record fee to acquire his services, perhaps a sum that matches the needs of the club – Lampard (32), Drogba (33), Anelka (32), Malouda (30), John Terry (30) and Ashley Cole (30), all edging closer to that expiration date. Has Torres made the right decision in joining a club who are out of the title race this season? Could Chelsea end up fifth in the table and miss out playing against the European elite? It’s all very possible with the current Premier League table.

However, FSG made their intentions clear when acquiring the difficult signature of 24-year-old Luis Suarez. Torres might just come back and regret not staying until the summer, as Liverpool begin to properly rebuild. But with two young attackers, one more experienced than the other, and both stone cold strikers – the Reds have two new potential Kopite legends on their hands.

Fernando Torres has been a Liverpool star in the past, loved by the fans and could have continued his career to be identified as one of the club’s greats.

He’s not Chelsea’s player, and will never be treated like one.

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