Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PEP..DON’T LOOK ANY FERRTHER
Signed as a winger.. but Torres’ stunning form up front could convince City boss he’s the ready-made replacement for Aguero
FERRAN TORRES has served notice he could be the solution to the problem of how Manchester City replace club legend Sergio Aguero.
The Spain international is fast becoming one of the hottest properties in Europe and posted p a first hat-trick, against Germ Germany in Seville on Tuesday, the first player to do so since Michael Mich Owen in 2001. And w hil hi l e City sign ed Torres, 20, from fr Valencia for £21million a as a winger, Pep Guardiola is u understood to be open to the id idea of converting the forwar forward into a central predator t to replace Aguero who is out of contract next su summer.
Tor Torres admitted his first career hat-trick put h him in dreamland as w well as whetting his appetite for the rest of the season. “We are thrilled wi with the group of pla players we have and ho how things are br brewing,” he said of his hi Luis Enrique’s squad. sq
“I gu ess ever y single si player dr dreams of scoring a h hat-trick for his c countr y. That I could c do that in a match m of this importance p and h help this team... well, I ’m extremely happy.” While some clubs can often be left counting the cost of an international break City have instead been left wondering how they managed to get Torres so cheap.
At £21m plus a possible £11m in add-ons, they have not only a worthy successor to Leroy Sane on their hands but a player capable of challenging Gabriel Jesus (below, inset) and Aguero (below, right) for the goalscorer’s crown.
And his City and Spain team-mate Rodri believes Torres is at the front of a wave of young talent that could prove irresistible in next summer’s European urop ean Championships. ps.
“We’ve been n asking for patience because we are the ones s who see the day-totoday, who undererstand what t has been coming,” said
Rodri. “This i s Sp ain , a team who can put six past Germany, and the final result could have been much bigger.” There is undoubted delight among City’s hierarchy that Torres was plucked from under the noses of giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Real had tracked him closely through his final season at the Mestalla while Barca are understood to have turned down two opportunities to add him to their roster, in 2017 and again this summer.
But after Torres has repaid the faith and rubbed salt in those wounds with four goals for both club and country this season, it is the possibilities for his development p as a goalscorer which are exciting the club.
Guardiola is likely l to persist with Torres Tor as a right-sided forward – good news for City but bad new news for Riyad R M Mahrez – for fo the rest of the seaso season.
But with Aguero Agu ero out of contrac contract in the summe summer and Jesus y yet to convince critics cr he is capable of stepping into the Argentinian’s Arg shoes, s h o e s , To r r e s could cou be co converted later.