THE FALTERING SPANIARD

On transfer deadline line day January 31^st 2011 Chelsea signed Fernando Torres for £50million from Liverpool. Chelsea thought they had pulled a coup and signed the Spaniard amidst reported interests from Man city and Barcelona but had they?

Torres arrived Stamford Bridge on the back of a glowing reputation. He had scored 65goals in 102 appearances for Liverpool, was the fastest Liverpool player to get to 50goals (72 appearances) for the club. He had also shone for his country scoring the winning goal in Euro 2008 against Germany.

Chelsea had failed to take into consideration that in the 2009/2010 Premier League season, Torres was plagues with hamstring injuries and a knee injury that almost kept him out of the 2010 World Cup. Spain did go on to win the trophy but Torres had little to do with it and he sustained a groin injury in the final.  In the 2010/2011 season Torres scored 5goals in 15 appearances for Liverpool but never looked the sort of player he was in his previous three seasons at Anfield. In the January window in came Chelsea with the big bucks and Liverpool willingly cashed in.

At Stamford Bridge his arrival was seen as the coming of a king, the one to finally give Chelsea talisman Didier Drogba a run for the top striker’s job. Manager Carlo Ancelotti experimented with playing Torres as the lone striker and playing him and Drogba together. The experiment failed as the Spaniard netted only once in 21 appearances in his maiden season with Chelsea. The excuse for his low goal return was that Chelsea didn’t have the sort of midfielders the feed him the ball.

The 2011/2012 season saw the arrival of Andres Villas-Boas as the new manager at Chelsea, determined to get the best out of Torres, he signed Juan Mata who was regarded as the midfielder to help Torres get back to his best. His howler at the gapping Man United goal in Chelsea’s 3-1 loss at Old Trafford was just enough evidence of how low his confidence had sunk. The season ended with Chelsea winning the both the FA Cup and the Champions League. Torres did not start in both finals as manager Roberto Di Matteo placed is faith in ability of Chelsea legend Drogba. Another excuse for Torres’ dwindling performances was that the club didn’t create enough chances for him.

In the summer transfer window of 2012 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich splashed the cash bringing in Eden Hazard for £32million and Oscar for £25million. These players alongside Mata were to assist with creating the chances for Torres to get back to his lethal best. The departure of Drogba left Torres as the main striker.

However, despite the stellar cast playing behind him and feeding him the ball Fernando Torres has managed just 6 goals in all competitions so far this season. He has only managed 17 goals in 71 appearances for the club.

In Chelsea’s defeat the West Brom, he looked  a passenger on a bus disinterested in the ride.In the game against Man City, Chelsea lost the ball 24 times of which Torres contributed 6 times to that number. His last Premier league goal was 9hours 20minutes ago, a very poor return for a striker at a club aiming to win the league.

He lacks the pace he thrived on in this early days, loses possession often, creates very little for team mates  his decision making is poor and his body language comes off as a player who is too low on confidence.

Rafa  Benitez the new interim manager at Chelsea was reportedly given the job because  of the success he has had working with Torres. The striker scored 56 goals in 78 games under Benitez at Liverpool

The Chelsea hierarchy has to admit that El Nino (The Kid) is possibly never going to make a comeback.  The January window is 5weeks away and for Chelsea to compete on all fronts Roman has to once again reach into his pockets and sign a top striker.