Fernando Torres has reiterated that money was not his chief motivation for joining Chelsea, insisting that his move was based on sporting ambition at a time when he had lost enthusiasm at Liverpool.
• David Villa backs Torres switch
• Ancelotti defends Torres debut
• Torres: Liverpool surprised us
Torres moved to Stamford Bridge for £50 million last week after three-and-a-half years on Merseyside and is believed to have received a significant increase in his weekly wages with the Blues.
But the Spain striker insists that he had simply grown tired of life playing for Liverpool and was happy to be given a chance to leave Anfield for a new challenge - though he stressed that the Reds "will always be special" to him.
"Money was not important," Torres told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "I left to improve sporting-wise. I thought I would stay one more year and take it as a transition season.
"But a time comes when you lose enthusiasm. You see those in the Spanish national team are playing at a different level. Then, when everything looked black, Chelsea came and showed a real interest.
"Liverpool will always be very special to me," he said. "Because of its history, Liverpool is a bigger club but it's going through a difficult time. Chelsea is like Manchester United, the strongest over the last ten years. One is not better than the other - I'm just happy to have had the fortune of playing for both of them.
"I have been pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere in the Chelsea changing room. I thought it would be more distant but the atmosphere is very good. They laugh, they joke. It's nice.''
Torres is currently back in Madrid preparing for Spain's friendly with Colombia at the Bernabeu on Wednesday and he says it is nice to be leaving all the transfer talk behind for a short period.
"These past ten days have been very intense and it still is,'' Torres said. "Everything has gone so quickly and it's as though I have a lot of information in my head.
"It seems that a month has gone by instead of a week. I want to enjoy playing with the national team because we are champions of everything. This game is good for me to disconnect.''
GettyImagesFernando Torres receives a rather frosty reception from the travelling Liverpool fans
• Ancelotti defends Torres debut
• Torres: Liverpool surprised us
Torres moved to Stamford Bridge for £50 million last week after three-and-a-half years on Merseyside and is believed to have received a significant increase in his weekly wages with the Blues.
But the Spain striker insists that he had simply grown tired of life playing for Liverpool and was happy to be given a chance to leave Anfield for a new challenge - though he stressed that the Reds "will always be special" to him.
"Money was not important," Torres told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "I left to improve sporting-wise. I thought I would stay one more year and take it as a transition season.
"But a time comes when you lose enthusiasm. You see those in the Spanish national team are playing at a different level. Then, when everything looked black, Chelsea came and showed a real interest.
"Liverpool will always be very special to me," he said. "Because of its history, Liverpool is a bigger club but it's going through a difficult time. Chelsea is like Manchester United, the strongest over the last ten years. One is not better than the other - I'm just happy to have had the fortune of playing for both of them.
"I have been pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere in the Chelsea changing room. I thought it would be more distant but the atmosphere is very good. They laugh, they joke. It's nice.''
Torres is currently back in Madrid preparing for Spain's friendly with Colombia at the Bernabeu on Wednesday and he says it is nice to be leaving all the transfer talk behind for a short period.
"These past ten days have been very intense and it still is,'' Torres said. "Everything has gone so quickly and it's as though I have a lot of information in my head.
"It seems that a month has gone by instead of a week. I want to enjoy playing with the national team because we are champions of everything. This game is good for me to disconnect.''
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