Fernando Torres Adebayor in the race for the Premier League golden boot.<ref name="Statistics: top scorers: 2007/2008"></ref> Torres was subject to media speculation that Chelsea were willing to pay £50 million to sign him, but Torres responded by saying it would be "many years" before he left Liverpool. Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks also negated the idea of a transfer, saying he would not allow Torres to leave the club at any price. Torres made a scoring start to the 2008–09 Premier League season with a 25-yard shot into the bottom right-hand corner away at Sunderland, which was the only goal in a 1–0
Fernando Torres as number 50 in "The Times"'s list of "The 50 greatest Liverpool players", reinforcing the impact he had made at Liverpool in such a short period of time. Torres faced his old rivals Real Madrid on 10 March 2009 in the Champions League last 16 and due to an ankle injury, he had a painkilling injection before the game to enable him to play. He scored the first goal of the game, which ended as a 4–0 victory, meaning Liverpool progressed to the quarter-finals 5–0 on aggregate. Four days later, he lined up against Manchester United at Old Trafford and