The Ferran Torres goal drought extended to eight matches across all competitions in Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-0 victory over Troyes, leaving the forward without a club goal since Marseille on 20 September. The September Ligue 1 Player of the Month has moved from an exceptional scoring run into a familiar problem: turning productive spells into sustained output.
Torres started against Troyes after being left on the bench for the Champions League meeting with Villarreal. His return to the starting side did not end the drought, although Luis Enrique has publicly backed the striker and stressed the importance of continuing to get chances.
Ferran Torres goal drought follows seven goals in six games
Seven goals in six matches established an immediate standard for Torres after his summer move from Barcelona. Eight subsequent matches without scoring have made that opening run look increasingly distant.
The contrast is particularly sharp because of the role available to him. With Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sidelined, PSG have needed other forwards to take greater responsibility. Torres arrived wearing the number nine shirt and initially supplied exactly the finishing those absences now make more valuable.
His current run covers both Ligue 1 and the Champions League. It is therefore broader than a domestic scoring problem, and the selection consequences have already become visible: he was among the substitutes for the European fixture against Villarreal before starting against Troyes.
That switch also shows he has not simply been removed from consideration. Luis Enrique returned him to the starting side, giving him another opportunity to contribute while the goals remain absent.
Troyes brought another start, but no breakthrough
The narrow win over Troyes offered less room for a missed opportunity than PSG’s previous European outing. Torres sent an effort wide and again finished without a goal, extending a sequence that now stretches back to September.
A loss of confidence is one possible explanation, but it remains an interpretation rather than an established diagnosis. The drought itself is clear; the reasons behind it are less certain.
There is also a distinction between the number of matches without scoring and the amount of football played within them. A sequence containing substitute appearances does not represent the same exposure as eight complete matches. His place on the bench against Villarreal matters to that assessment, even though it does not remove the pressure to score when selected.
For PSG, the immediate issue is practical. An attacker who supplied goals rapidly at the start of his spell is currently contributing none, just as injuries have reduced the options around him.
Barcelona’s warning: productive seasons contained long droughts
Torres’ Barcelona record gives the current sequence context without making his next result predictable. He left with 65 goals in 207 appearances, a substantial contribution whose uneven distribution repeatedly became a concern.
His final two seasons were his most productive there. He scored 19 times in 2024-25 and improved that total to 21 the following campaign. Those returns show why PSG could see a useful scorer in the player, even with lengthy interruptions between goals.
| Barcelona season | Goals | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 19 | 45 |
| 2025-26 | 21 | 49 |
Across those two campaigns, Torres scored 40 goals in 94 appearances. That amounts to roughly one goal every 2.35 appearances, although an appearance-based average does not account for the different minutes played as a starter or substitute.
The seasonal totals and the droughts belong in the same assessment. One does not cancel out the other.
His longer Barcelona sequences included:
- 20 matches without scoring during the 2022-23 season.
- 16 consecutive competitive appearances without a goal in 2024, across a period interrupted by an injury absence of almost two months.
- 14 successive scoreless matches last season, before two goals against Espanyol on 11 April ended the run.
They also limit the claim that his early PSG output represented a permanently higher scoring level. Seven goals in six matches was a strong start, but it was well above the average frequency of his best Barcelona seasons.
Equally, those Barcelona totals argue against treating the current drought as proof that Torres cannot contribute over a full campaign. He reached 21 goals in a season that also contained 14 consecutive matches without one. The concern is the reliability of the supply, particularly when teammates are unavailable and the team needs him to carry more responsibility.
PSG scored 28 goals while Torres went without
PSG’s collective results have been considerably stronger than Torres’ individual return. Across the eight fixtures following his last goal against Marseille, the team recorded eight victories and scored 28 goals.
That sequence included a 4-2 win at Manchester City, a 4-2 victory over Barcelona and a 6-0 success at Villarreal. It ended with the much tighter 1-0 result against Troyes.
The distinction matters to the scale of the story. Torres is enduring a scoring slump, but PSG have continued to win and find goals elsewhere. His drought has not become a team-wide inability to finish.
Nor have the injuries to Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia prevented PSG from producing substantial attacking returns. Other players have absorbed enough of the scoring responsibility to keep the results moving in the right direction.
That offers Luis Enrique some room to work with Torres. The coach can restore him to the starting side, as he did against Troyes, without doing so amid a run of poor team results.
It also creates competition. PSG’s six goals at Villarreal, with Torres beginning on the bench, demonstrated that their attack could deliver a decisive European performance without him starting. His early scoring run does not guarantee his place in every important fixture.
Movement still has value
Torres’ contribution extends beyond the final touch. His runs behind defenders, movement across the attack and intensity when pressing are established parts of his game.
Those qualities give a coach reasons to select him during a drought. Runs can occupy defenders or create room for teammates, while pressing helps a side contest possession higher up the pitch.
They do not make finishing irrelevant. With two prominent attackers unavailable, PSG have additional reason to want goals from a player recruited to strengthen the forward line. The balance is between preserving useful attacking work and demanding more from the chances that reach him.
Luis Enrique backs chances; Barcelona has moved on
Luis Enrique’s public response has focused on the opportunities his forwards receive rather than the length of their scoring runs.
“Strikers are the ones who miss chances and score goals,” he said.
He added: “For me, what matters is that the strikers keep getting big chances.”
That position leaves room for patience without promising Torres an automatic starting place. His recent movement between the bench and the starting side already shows that support and selection are separate decisions.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have reorganised their attack following his departure. Raphinha has taken responsibility as the number nine, easing the immediate concerns raised by selling Torres when Robert Lewandowski would also no longer be at the club.
The contrast is favourable to Barcelona at present, but Torres’ drought alone cannot establish why the club sold him or settle the long-term outcome of the transfer. His earlier scoring surges and subsequent recoveries are also part of his record.
PSG signed him on 15 August 2026, with a contract running until 2031. Luis Enrique’s relationship with the forward predates that agreement: he gave Torres his senior Spain opportunity in 2020.
Their next club fixture is against Nice, followed by Roma in the Champions League. Those matches offer Torres further opportunities to end the drought and give Luis Enrique another selection decision as PSG continue to manage their attacking absences.
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