Fernando Torres recently gave an interesting view of his time at Chelsea FC in a recent interview to Spanish newspaper El Pais. In his words, his time at Chelsea was akin to “swimming in wet clothes”.
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“The worst part about not playing is when you think that you are ready to do it. You try to get more minutes, taking the chances, but you end up in a situation where things have not gone well for weeks, or for years. That is like swimming in wet clothes. I know how I am, and I am good. In the end these doubts disappear, but then others come again.”
He acknowledged the fact that his time at Chelsea FC was the most successful in his career, in terms of winning trophies.
“I have good memories because winning the Champions was a dream since I was a kid when I used to go to see Atletico Madrid. Having won that Champions League (with Chelsea) makes me feel very proud.”
Now different people may interpret his comments in different ways. But for me, I do not see his comments as a criticism of the way Chelsea FC handled him in 3 and a half years at the club, because if that were the case, then he would be insulting the fans of a club that gave him their backing even when he was at his worst (which was basically most of his time at the club). I believe that he was simply talking about the difficulties he faced trying to meet up with the expectations his transfer fee placed on him.
Torres made more appearances in his time at Chelsea than he did while playing for Liverpool, both in the Premier League (110 to 102) and in all competitions (172 to 142) as a whole, despite playing under 4 different managers. But he unfortunately produced less than half the returns, scoring just 45 goals (20 in the EPL) for Chelsea as opposed to 81 (65 in the EPL) for Liverpool in all competitions.
Credit – YouTube user Fernando Torres
He clearly failed to justify his 50 million pounds transfer fee with so many below par performances. His time at Chelsea was characterised by very high work rate and a willingness to work for the team, but with little end product. Because at the end of the day, a striker is judged by the amount of goals he scores, and for 50 million, Fernando Torres scored very few!
He did pick things up in the 2012/2013 season where he managed to score 22 goals (doubling his previous best return in a season at Chelsea FC). His return of 17 goals in 40 European appearances was one of the few positives in his time at Chelsea FC, 6 of them coming en route to the Europa League victory in 2013.
What I do have reservations about is his comment that he is good. Torres has not been the player that lighted up the Premier League in his days at Liverpool for a very long time. In fact, he started showing signs of the player he currently is in his final season at Liverpool when he lost that extra yard of pace that made him the most feared striker in the EPL.
He tried to adapt his game at Chelsea to suit the needs of the club and to make up for the lost pace, but it became apparent that without his greatest asset, he had become a shadow of the player he was. It probably led to the confidence issues that saw him miss sitter after sitter at Chelsea. The first one against Manchester United, after going past Van der Sar and tucking the ball wide while facing a gaping goal post, was probably the most memorable and began his horrible record at the club.
His move to AC Milan, probably to revive his career (and definitely to get his massive wages of Chelsea’s wage bill), didn’t fare any better, with a return of just 1 goal in 10 appearances. He complained that AC Milan had failed to fulfil promises made to him when he joined the club, which prompted his loan to the club where it all started for him… Atletico Madrid.
Fernando Torres is simply a player with a limited skill set who wasn’t able to adapt once injuries had taken away his most prized asset… his pace.
After an impressive start, scoring 3 goals in his first 4 games, including both goals in the 2-0 victory against Real Madrid and one against Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey, things have kind of tailed off since then and returned back to normal (and by normal, I mean relative mediocrity, which is harsh but true), failing to score in his next 6 appearances. He has also returned to his habit of missing sitters, as he did in the Copa Del Rey second leg clash against Barcelona.
In the end, he can blame his poor return in front of goal on confidence issues, lack of playing time, or any other excuse he can manage to cook up. But the bottom line is Torres is simply a player with a limited skill set who wasn’t able to adapt once his injuries had taken away his most prized asset… his pace. Since then, he has gradually regressed from average to mediocre over the last 4 years and its high time he starts focusing on getting his groove back, instead of giving interviews which may seem to be a desperate effort to regain a public image he clearly still feels he deserves.
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