Torres has made public his intentions to see out the last three years of his contract ahead of Chelsea’s Europa League semi-final win in Basel yesterday.
His introduction to English football came in 2007 after giving his signature to Liverpool, and until the January of 2011 he went on to make a huge name for himself scoring 81 goals in 142 games.
This prompted Chelsea to make a swoop for the man. He is now widely known as the £50 million pound flop, since he has failed to create anything near the kind of form that he had previously proved he was capable of, scoring only 14 Premier League goals in 78 appearances for Chelsea.
It has certainly been a frustration for Chelsea fans to watch Torres fail to live up to his previously built reputation, and it has looked as if Torres himself has been similarly frustrated. It may come as a shock to many then that Torres has made it clear that he intends to see out the remainder of his contract.
[quote]I have three years contract so I expect to stay at least three years.
Fernando Torres[/quote]
Torres has been involved in exactly 32 Premier League games in both this season and the last, and in that many appearances has racked up only 13 goals (with 1 more the previous season). There isn’t a huge amount to say, other than the fact that his stats are underwhelming. His clear-cut chance conversion rate especially needs improvement since top strikers would generally want it to be around the 50% mark. Luis Suarez’s is at 53% and Van Persie’s is at 42% (and take away his barren run and it would be higher).
Torres has actually managed 19 goals in all competitions this season. However, given that Chelsea have played almost 70 games this season, and that many of those goals have come against lower opponents, it is not as strong a stat as first thought.
The club’s motivation for keeping him will come down to more than form. It’s speculated that he is Chelsea’s joint top earner with wages pushing sitting somewhere in the £175,000 p/week area. If you are not getting a return for your money in terms of goals, then this money is wasted and better spent elsewhere. Moreover Financial Fair Play (FFP) limits the losses that a club can make, and so spending this kind of money on a misfiring striker further wastes money that could be spent elsewhere.
Indeed Torres has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, but of course his wage demands will always make that a difficult task, unless of course he is willing to take a wage drop. Indeed, a swap deal with Falcao has been a regular link, and German newspaper Bild (who have a reputation for being accurate) have reported that a deal for the Columbian is close. Whether this would involve Torres as a make-weight is another matter.
As well as declaring his intention to stay at Chelsea past the summer, Torres spoke of these same desires with Chelsea’s goals for the rest of the season in mind.
[quote] We want to go back to the Champions League next season and keep winning trophies. I think we have a great squad and a young squad to build on. We are sure that we are a great team and we want to show everyone. I would like to be involved.[/quote]
He added,
[quote]“It has not been an easy season for anyone, but I think we have improved as a team and we are all focused on the same targets. We still have one trophy to fight for and to finish in the top four so let’s talk after the season about whether it has been good or bad.”[/quote]
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