Manuel Sánchez Torres

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Sánchez and the second or maternal family name is Torres.

Manuel Sánchez Torres (born 1 January 1960) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Manuel Sánchez Torres

Personal information
Full name	Manuel Sánchez Torres
Date of birth	(1960-01-01) 1 January 1960 (age 65)
Place of birth	Terrassa, Spain
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	PH Almelo
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1978–1985	Twente	173	(52)
1985–1987	Valencia	35	(1)
1987–1990	Roda	46	(6)
1990–1991	NEC	26	(7)
1992–1993	Heracles Almelo	0	(0)
Total		280	(66)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Almost all of his professional career was spent in the Netherlands, where he appeared for three different teams – mainly Twente – and played in nearly 250 official games.

Career

Torres was born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia. When he was seven years old he moved with his parents to Almelo in the Netherlands, and he started his football career at local amateurs PH Almelo, being subsequently noticed and signed by Eredivisie club FC Twente.

On 17 September 1978, aged 18, Torres made his league debut for Twente, in a home game against Sparta Rotterdam, scoring his first goal a few weeks later at HFC Haarlem and ending his first season with three goals in 23 matches as the Enschede side finished in 11th position and reached the final of the Dutch Cup, lost to league champions AFC Ajax.^[1]

From 1980 onwards, Sánchez Torres scored in double digits in every season at Twente, safe for the 1982–83 campaign which ended in relegation to the second division – followed by immediate promotion, with player netting 11 times for the runners-up.^[1]

In 1985, Torres returned to his country and signed for Valencia CF, making his debut for the Che against Real Valladolid. During his spell with the club, where he was coached by Alfredo Di Stéfano, he failed to reproduce his previous form, scoring only once and also suffering La Liga relegation in his first season.^[2]

After leaving Valencia, Sánchez Torres returned to the Netherlands and joined Roda JC in the top division, but appeared sparingly for that and his following teams, NEC Nijmegen and Heracles Almelo (no games whatsoever for the latter), due to injury, retiring from football in 1993 at age 33.^[1]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League
		Division	Apps	Goals
Twente	1978–79[3]	Eredivisie	23	3
	1979–80[3]	Eredivisie	5	0
	1980–81[3]	Eredivisie	32	10
	1981–82[3]	Eredivisie	33	15
	1982–83[3]	Eredivisie	21	3
	1983–84[3]	Eerste Divisie	26	11
	1984–85[3]	Eredivisie	33	10
	Total		173	52
Valencia	1985–86[4]	La Liga	20	1
	1986–87[4]	Segunda División	15	0
	Total		35	1
Roda	1987–88[4]	Eredivisie	26	4
	1988–89[3]	Eredivisie	18	2
	1989–90[3]	Eredivisie	2	0
	Total		46	6
NEC	1989–90[3]	Eredivisie	2	0
	1990–91[4]	Eredivisie	24	7
	Total		26	7
Heracles	1992–93[4]	Eredivisie	0	0
Career total			280	66