This week’s theme on FootballFanCast.com is ‘Heroes and Villains’. The most obvious talking point on villainy at the moment is Fernando Torres’ transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea. But I don’t think a player of Torres’ ability should be vilified for wanting to move away from Liverpool.

I think Liverpool fans begrudge the transfer because it is conformation that they are no longer a super power in the English game. It is the first time they have been a feeder club to another Premier League side. They didn’t want to sell, Torres wanted to move. This has never happened in the club’s history.

The truth is, for the last eight years, the two biggest clubs in England have been Chelsea and Manchester United. Liverpool fans may still think it is themselves and United, but sadly, in modern football, the present is more important than the past. Owners want success instantly and history books have been thrown out the window, to be replaced by cheque books. This transfer proves rather starkly that Chelsea’s rise above Liverpool is now permanent. At this moment in time Chelsea are the bigger club.

Torres is not a Liverpool player born and bred. He was brought up at Atletico Madrid and supported them as a child. Rather than moving to one of their rivals straight away in Barcelona or Real Madrid, he came to England. He owes Liverpool nothing. He arrived as a world class player for a decent amount of money. He has left for more than double what they paid for him. In his time at Anfield he has been spectacular, but is now too good not to be playing Champions League football.

Players want to win trophies, almost all of Torres’ team mates in his Spanish World Cup winning squad have won the Champions League. He is one of the only players not to have any club medals, and after 82 international caps, he is one of their senior players. You cannot blame him for chasing the success that all his compatriots have achieved.

Players who think they are better than they are can be vilified. If a player gets above himself and decides he is too good for his team when he is not, they are a villain. But each case is separate. Andy Carroll for example, was a victim of Newcastle’s board wanting to sell him. He did not kick up a fuss and ask to leave his club, in my eyes Mike Ashley is the villain, not Andy Carroll.

Torres is not the villain in his case either. He has established himself as a top class player and deserves to be playing in a top class European competition. He was not going to achieve this with Liverpool this year, and probably not next year. Torres is 26, so is too good to spend 2 years of his prime not playing against the best players in Europe.

The days of the ‘one-club player’, like Matt Le Tissier, are behind us. Alan Shearer proved to be a hero on the Tyneside when he turned down a move to a bigger club, but who, Newcastle fans aside, would not have relished watching Alan Shearer playing for a major European club?

Other than him, all of the ‘one-club men’ playing at the moment have never had to face the prospect of moving. These players are either at the best sides or are not realistically good enough to warrant a move. While I respect the loyalty of a man like Steven Gerrard, he has already achieved great European success, and is coming to the end of his career. Giggs and Scholes have played for the top club in Europe, and have never had to worry about not winning trophies. Had they began their careers at Everton, I am sure they would have eventually moved on, just as Wayne Rooney had to do.

The game has become rewards driven. If clubs do well they get a lot of money, this mentality is just the same for the players as for the clubs. Every player wants to win trophies; just like every fan wants to see their side achieve success. Sadly for Liverpool fans, they have to face the fact that they are no longer in the ‘big 4’, and despite resurgence of late, will face an uphill battle to make it into the top 5 this year. They have to accept that they were not successful enough to hold on to a player Fernando Torres’s ability and ambition.

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