Chelsea hero Fernando Torres calls time on his roller coaster career

Fernando Torres had an up and down (and all around) career in which he won it all. The Chelsea hero has announced his retirement from football.

Prior to moving to Chelsea, Fernando Torres may have been one of the world’s greatest strikers. He captained a much different Atletico Madrid as a teenager, earning early attention from Roman Abramovich. He eventually moved to Liverpool where he lit the Premier League on fire. After plenty of time off due to injury, he eventually submitted a transfer request and moved to Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea. That is when half of his career went one direction and the other half the opposite direction.

After his injuries late in his Liverpool career, Torres was never quite the same. His transfer fee was huge (the biggest at the time for Chelsea) but he failed to score for months. That is more or less how the remainder of his Chelsea career went. But despite being a shadow of himself on the pitch, Torres filled his trophy cabinet. Stamford Bridge was always patient with him but his time in Blue was a true roller coaster.

Of course, Torres will be remembered as a hero for his contributions in 2012. Chelsea had the away goal to advance over Barcelona regardless, but Torres’ late goal sealed the tie completely. He came on late in the final and won the corner that Didier Drogba converted to force extra time. These may seem a case of “right place, right time”, but Torres will always be revered for those moments.

Torres will also be remembered as the player the club tried everything to return him to his old form. Chelsea’s habit of buying every single available and promising attacking midfielder at the time was part trying to copy Pep Guardiola’s style and part trying to give Torres the service he needed. Even the hiring of his former manager, Rafa Benitez, was largely influenced with trying to squeeze the best out of Torres.

Benitez’s appointment did prove to be beneficial for Torres, albeit primarily in the Europa League. The striker looked like his old self as he played a huge role in Chelsea winning their first Europa League. He did well enough that Jose Mourinho felt comfortable building around him in the next season.

But it never fully worked out in the field for Torres at Chelsea. After years of buying players and even hiring a manager to get the best out of Torres, the club decided to go in a new direction. Torres was loaned to AC Milan where he did poorly, but they eventually transferred him in. From there, he was loaned back to Atletico Madrid where he was eventually bought outright.

Diego Simeone is a bit of a striker whisperer and he did manage to find a solid output from Torres. He still was not his old self, but he played a part and looked more at home than he had been in years.

Age catching up to Torres, he headed to Japan as many other Spanish players in his generation have now done. He has announced his retirement and is moving into the backroom staff of his Japanese club, Sagan Tosu.

Torres won it all in his career. It definitely was not pretty by the end but he will be remembered more fondly than not for his time at Chelsea. The club bent over backwards to bring the best out of him and though it did not work as intended, he still managed to play his part in further filling Chelsea’s (and his own) trophy cabinet.

His career was a roller coaster by the end but Torres will forever be part of Chelsea’s history now. He was not what was promised, but what he brought might have been even better.