The Warm-Up: Farewell Fernando Torres, an inconsistent genius

Today at around 1:20pm, in the unlikely setting of Tosu, a city in the Saga Prefecture on the Japanese island of Kyushu, the sun will set on one of the great modern football careers, and certainly one of the most uneven.

A 35-year-old Fernando Torres will take to the field for Sagan Tosu against Andres Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe for the 767th and final club game of his 18-year career. A career which saw him win the World Cup and European Championship, as well as the Champions League and Europa League, yet his only league title was the Segunda Division with childhood club Atletico Madrid in 2002.

A career which saw him develop into the most devastating forward in England with 65 goals in 102 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, defenders of the calibre of Nemanja Vidic reduced to gibbering wrecks in the wake of his brilliance, before becoming a national joke following his £50m record transfer to Chelsea.

To be present at his debut for Chelsea in February 2011, against Liverpool no less, was to witness a player immediately out of sorts. His position in the side was uncertain and the away fans displayed a banner reading: ‘He who betrays will always walk alone.’ And it must have felt like a desperately lonely life when, for two years, he was the punchline to every football joke.

The goals never returned in any significant volume, and his current tally this season is two from 19 games, but at least Torres ultimately found what he was looking for in football, as a career comes full circle.

"It's been an amazing 18 years, more than 18 years playing football," he said yesterday. “I won many things. I won the respect of world football, which is the most important thing for me, and now I have only one game left.

“So, I will make sure that I will enjoy from the first until the last minute and hopefully we can get the three points, which are very important for us, and hopefully I can score my last goal at home in front of Sagan Tosu fans.

"It's going to be a really special game for me, but it's not going to change the way I feel about my career. It's been fantastic. Much better than I could expect when I was a kid. So, I'm really grateful for what I did and really grateful to all my fans around the world."

Adios, El Niño.

Arsenal fans have started to worship a new hero this summer. Not record signing Nicolas Pepe. Not even luxuriantly talented Santi Cazorla clone Dani Ceballos. No, the true totem of Arsenal’s summer has been ‘Don’ Raul Sanllehi, the man who brokered these deals and more while limiting Arsenal’s net losses to around £45m. And it could get even better.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Anfield yesterday, Unai Emery said he had told misfits Mohamed Elneny and Shkodran Mustafi that it is in their best interests to leave the club before the European transfer windows close.

"We have some players, they know their situation,” Emery said. “For example, Elneny and Mustafi know their position in the squad and really I want the players to be happy here, I want the players to be protagonists here. Last year with Mustafi and Mo, when they didn't play they weren't happy. I spoke with them a lot of times last year and this pre-season and I think it is positive for them to leave and sign for another team where they can be protagonists and be happy and continue their careers.”

If Don Raul can flog off Mustafi, especially, for a decent few they’ll start having to find a suitable plot for his statue outside the Emirates.

The European exploits of Wolverhampton Wanderers continued last night with a 3-2 win away at Torino in the first leg of their Europa League play-off, giving them one foot in the group stages. After an own goal from a Joao Moutinho cross, Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez were both on target for Wolves in Italy. A late penalty from Andrea Belotti took the shine off a little but Nuno Espirito Santo was happy enough.

Nuno said: “It’s far from being over, it’s a close tie. We have to play next week against a very tough and a very good team. We played good, we were organised, we stayed in shape, we produced some goals but, like I say, there’s still one game to go.”

Elsewhere, Linfield, managed by David Healy, shocked Qarabag to win 3-2 at home while Celtic beat AIK 2-0 and Rangers drew 0-0 away at Legia Warsaw.

In slightly late MLS news, don’t miss Wayne Rooney continuing to endear himself to DC United fans by getting sent off for a VAR-assisted forearm smash after just announcing he will leave the club.

And in more slightly late MLS news, also don’t miss Carlos Vela waltzing through a defence for his 24th goal in 25 games this season for LAFC (oh and chuck in 14 assists for good measure too).

Linfield’s Shayne Lavery was on target in the Europa League against Qarabag last night, with the BBC posting a clip of this quite magnificent goal. Just one question: where are those ball boys sprinting off to?

And courtesy of Bournemouth, a little bit of nutmeg heaven for you this morning...

With Arsenal visiting Anfield on Saturday, what better moment to relive everyone’s favourite sausage-fingered Russian and his four goals from 2009. Take it away, Andrey Arshavin...

There’s more Friday night football on offer as Aston Villa host Everton tonight.

And just a reminder that La Vuelta starts tomorrow! You can watch live coverage of every stage on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport Player.