Torres insisted he would "change nothing that happened" to him last season because it made him "stronger than ever" and categorically denied threatening to walk away from Stamford Bridge if he was not guaranteed first-team football.
That was certainly the impression the Spain striker gave after May's Champions League final, when he revealed the depth of his despair since his record-shattering ?50million move from Liverpool a year and a half ago.
Torres' fortunes have transformed dramatically since then, the 28-year-old winning the Golden Boot at the European Championship and - with Didier Drogba now out of the picture - starting this season on fire in front of goal.
He looks certain to lead the line again against former club Atletico Madrid on Friday in the UEFA Super Cup and speaking in Monaco on Thursday, he said: "I would change nothing that happened to me last season.
"That taught me a lot of things. I learned a lot about a lot of people, in both ways. I learned a lot of things last season - good, bad. It made me a better player, a better person, and I'm stronger than ever now."
He added: "In these 18 months, I've become a better player. I have played in a different way to that I played at Liverpool. I can play more outside the box, associating more with my team-mates. I gave a lot of assists last season. I can mix it more."
Torres admitted that last term he felt like a teenager having to prove himself all over again. He said: "I'd never been on the bench like eight games in a row. I started to understand everyone in the team. When you're playing, you don't think about these things.
"But when you're there, you understand what people go through on the bench. It was a new experience. I learned a lot of things about that, which made me a better team-mate. I always tried to be a good team-mate, as I was as captain in Madrid. But I lost that at Liverpool, when I was never captain.
"[At Chelsea] I went back to when I was 17 or 18, having to fight every day for my place. I never want to go back to that situation again."
Source: PA
Source: PA