Anatomy of a goal: Ferran Torres' unbelievable flick against Newcastle

When a club forks out more than £20m on a player, you'd be forgiven for thinking they'd be an integral part of the manager's plans.

Ferran Torres probably thought exactly the same when he sealed his move to Manchester City, but it's not quite worked out that way.

A quick check of the Spaniard's stats during his first campaign at the club don't look particularly alarming - 34 appearances in all competitions and a healthy return of 13 goals, what's wrong with that?

However, the reality is he's found himself twiddling his thumbs as an unused substitute for 13 of City's 36 Premier League outings, and perhaps even more concerningly he's failed to make it off the bench in any of Pep Guardiola's side's last five Champions League games.

It's clear that the Catalan tactician doesn't quite trust the youngster yet, with Torres forced to warm the bench in his side's big games and being handed starts in the league at the latter end of the campaign (with the title already long since secured) which have helped pad out his stats.

That being said, when Torres has been handed his chance in recent weeks he's grabbed it with both hands - notching five goals in his last four appearances - and his display at Newcastle on Friday night was undoubtedly the highlight of his City career so far.

The 21-year-old's three-goal haul ensured the new Premier League champions took all three points from their trip to St. James' Park, and his first goal of the night was a strike we'll never forget.

The home side gave a good account of themselves despite the criticism they've received - mainly from their own fan base - this season and they took the lead midway through the first half thanks to Emil Krafth's bullet header.

The lead didn't last long as Joao Cancelo's deflected effort found its way past Martin Dubravka, but the best of an enthralling first half was yet to come.

As Ilkay Gundogan swung a free kick from the City left into the box, the set piece looked set to be easily cleared by the raft of Magpies defenders gathered around the penalty. There was plenty of pace on the ball from the Germany international, though direction was sorely lacking as it arrowed its way towards the first man.

Torres had other ideas.

The Spain international stole a yard on Jonjo Shelvey and managed to beat the Newcastle midfielder to the ball, though with his back to goal and with the ball barely at knee-height there seemed little more he could do than attempt to take it down before recycling possession.

In a moment of pure genius, Torres flicked out his right foot and somehow managed to divert the ball with the outside his boot beyond the reach of Dubravka in the Newcastle goal and into the back of the net.

Replays showed the Newcastle shot-stopper just flapped at the effort and probably led with his wrong hand, though that was purely down to the surprise and the ingenuity of Torres' effort rather than poor goalkeeping.

Dubravka had no time to set himself because, in all honesty, absolutely no-one expected Torres to take on the effort.

The strike was a mixture of pure audacity and genuine world-class quality, and it'll be an absolute travesty if we're not reminded of it in the coming weeks as the Goal of the Season candidates are rolled out.