They were losing 0-2. There were 45 minutes left and PSG, the reigning Champions League champions, was heading towards an unexpected stumble in their league debut against Stade Rennes, who had taken the lead with goals from Sebastian Szymanski and Esteban Lepaul in the first half. The match, originally scheduled at Parc des Princes, was moved to Roazhon Park in Rennes due to the poor condition of the Parisian pitch. Luis Enrique made changes at halftime, taking off Ousmane Dembélé and bringing in his most recent signing. Half an hour later, Ferran Torres had scored the two goals that secured the draw (2-2): the first, by pouncing on a loose ball in the area; the second, by heading in a precise cross. The Valencian forward needed barely 45 minutes to make his first mark wearing the PSG shirt.
It is no coincidence that he wore the number 9 on his back. The Parisian club was left without a reference up front after Gonçalo Ramos left for Milan, and found in Torres a forward capable of playing centrally or wide on either flank, something that fits with the rotation Luis Enrique manages alongside Kvaratskhelia, Doué, and Dembélé. A collective attack, with interchangeable pieces, in which Torres arrives with a proven reputation for being decisive.
Behind the operation is, above all, Luis Enrique. The Asturian coach avoided commenting publicly when asked about the forward during the transfer window, but he is the one who knows his qualities best: he was the one who gave him his first senior call-up with the national team in September 2020, and who made him, a year later, Spain’s top scorer during the Nations League, with a decisive brace against Italy in the semifinals. That trust remained intact throughout the 2022 Qatar World Cup and has survived the passage of time: Torres summed it up in his first statements as a PSG player: “I’ve always said it: for me, Luis Enrique has been like a footballing father.”
The signing was completed in record time. The agreement with Barcelona was sealed on August 15, barely a month after Torres scored the only goal in the World Cup final against Argentina. He arrived, however, with the deal already closed when PSG won the UEFA Super Cup against Aston Villa (2-1) on August 12: the French club’s most recent title was won three days before Torres could wear their shirt.
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He arrives in Paris with a career that started in Valencia’s youth academy and took off in 2020 with the jump to Manchester City. After four and a half seasons at Barcelona, 207 matches and 65 goals, he leaves the Catalan club without ever securing an undisputed starting spot, something he now hopes to change in Paris at 26 years old and with a World Cup won in between. He was also an important piece in winning La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup last season.
Upward trajectory
That is precisely the data that best explains why PSG bet on him. His goal-scoring progression at Barcelona was practically an upward line. In his first half-season, 2021-22, he scored 7 goals in 26 matches. Four years later, in 2024-25, he already had 19 in 45; and in the last one, 2025-26, he closed his Barcelona stage with 21 goals in 49 matches, his best record as a Blaugrana. And yet, in none of those five and a half seasons did he manage to secure a fixed spot in the starting eleven. It is the paradox he has carried for years: the more consistency he shows, the less he manages to turn it into a starting role.
Sunday’s brace does not answer that question, but it does reformulate it. Torres arrives at a winning dressing room, with a coach who knows him better than anyone and with the number 9 starting spot still to be decided among several candidates. What he has already shown, in just one match, is that he doesn’t need much time to justify the bet. Now it depends on Luis Enrique that this bet finally turns into the minutes that at Barcelona never quite became his.
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