Ferran Torres completes extraordinary journey from Barcelona ridicule to PSG star

Ferran Torres has gone from being mocked for costly misses at Barcelona to scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final and starting his Paris St-Germain career with six goals in five competitive appearances.

His transformation began after Barcelona signed him from Manchester City for 55m euros in January 2022, with a further 10m euros potentially payable in bonuses. The club were operating under La Liga’s financial restrictions and could sign Torres before registering him, forcing Samuel Umtiti to restructure his contract and redistribute his salary to create room under the wage limit.

The pressure on Torres was immediate. In October 2022, against his former club Valencia, he missed from close range after Pedri had supplied him in front of goal. The 0-0 scoreline, the laughter from the stands and the footage circulating online made the miss one of the defining images of his difficult period.

After the 2022 World Cup, his confidence deteriorated further. Raphinha, Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati were ahead of him in Barcelona’s attacking order, while Robert Lewandowski was virtually guaranteed a place. Torres later said he had never previously reached such a low point. He scored seven goals in 45 appearances during the 2022-23 season.

He responded by attending therapy twice a week, working with his family and specialists, and continuing with his personal trainer and nutritionist. He also withdrew as much as possible from the sports media and told Xavi he would return to his best.

That period coincided with the emergence of his nickname, El Tiburon – The Shark. Torres had said he felt psychologically like a bull and now possessed “a shark mentality”. Eric Garcia, Gavi, Pedri and Marcos Alonso helped turn the idea into an inside joke, with a shark emoji repeatedly appearing in the team’s group chat. It eventually became Torres’ personal identity and rallying cry.

The nickname took on a different meaning in 2024-25. Torres was not a regular starter for Barcelona, making 19 starts and 26 substitute appearances in 45 matches, but still scored 19 goals and supplied seven assists. His 26 goal involvements came in 1,921 minutes – one every 73 minutes.

Against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, he scored twice after coming off the bench, including the winning goal in a 3-2 victory. Barcelona said no substitute had previously scored a Champions League double for the club so quickly: Torres had been on the pitch for only 19 minutes. Lionel Messi, Cristian Tello and Ivan Rakitic had also scored two after coming on in the competition, but none faster.

He then returned to Valencia’s Mestalla in the Copa del Rey quarter-final and scored a hat-trick against his former club. Torres finished the tournament with six goals to become its leading scorer.

In the final against Real Madrid, Barcelona trailed 2-1 until the 84th minute, when Torres equalised to force extra time. Jules Kounde scored the winner in the 116th minute for a 3-2 victory, while Torres was named player of the final.

The following season, 2025-26, brought another personal best, with Torres scoring 21 goals in all competitions, including 16 in La Liga.

On 19 July 2026, he came off the bench in the 62nd minute for Mikel Oyarzabal in the World Cup final against Argentina. With the score 0-0 after 90 minutes, Pedro Porro delivered the ball in the 106th minute, Nico Williams headed it down and Torres struck first time beneath the crossbar. His goal secured Spain’s second World Cup title, and FIFA named him player of the match.

Less than a month later, on 15 August, PSG announced his signing on a contract running until 2031. He scored twice on his debut against Rennes on 23 August, coming on at half-time with PSG 2-0 down and finding the net in the 71st and 82nd minutes. He became only the third player in PSG history to score twice on his first appearance, after Patrick Mboma and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, doing so in less playing time than either.

After two goalless matches, Torres struck a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for PSG against Slovan Bratislava, scoring in the 31st, 47th and 57th minutes of a 6-1 win. He became the first PSG player to score three times in his opening Champions League match for the club and was named UEFA’s player of the week after the first round.

Four days later, he scored in the fifth minute against Brest as PSG won 1-0, their first Ligue 1 victory of the season. His six goals in five competitive matches matched Ibrahimovic’s start for PSG in 2012.

The story has also revived the old “enchufado” label, meaning a favoured or connected player. Torres was dating Sira Martinez, the daughter of former Spain manager Luis Enrique, when he played for the national team, while Luis Enrique’s jokes during streams helped fuel the association.

However, Torres made his Spain debut under Luis Enrique against Germany on 3 September 2020, around a year before the relationship began in September 2021. Luis Enrique has since described Torres as a world-class footballer capable of playing anywhere in attack and said he works on squad building with the club president. There is no evidence that he personally brought Torres to PSG.

Torres’ rise has instead been built on therapy, hard work, physical preparation, support from those close to him and a gradual recovery of confidence. The World Cup-winning goal and his explosive start in Paris have simply made the turnaround impossible to ignore.