Fernando Torres is easily one of the most famous names in European football, this of course can be a good or bad thing.
Aside from the adversity, Torres has one of the most memorable careers out of most European Footballers. The story of his Chelsea saga begins in the 2010-11 season.
Following former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson’s appointment, he stated that Torres would not be sold by the club, saying “He is not for sale and we don’t welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him.”
Hodgson dismissed reports Torres was set to leave Liverpool by saying “He has told us that he is looking forward to Monday, to getting back to work and looking forward to playing for Liverpool next season. That is what I know so other reports, I would suggest, are erroneous.”
Torres stated his commitment to Liverpool on 3 August, saying “My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed.”
On January 27, 2011, Torres was the subject of a £40 million bid from Chelsea, which was rejected by Liverpool. He subsequently handed in an official transfer request to Liverpool the next day, which was rejected.
Torres completed his move to Chelsea on a five-and-a-half-year contract on January 31, 2011 for an undisclosed fee reported to be £50 million, which set a new record for a British transfer and made him the sixth most expensive footballer in history.
This record would later be broken with the signing of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid to Manchester United for a sum of £59.7 million.
Following Torres’ signing for the Blues he would make is debut on 6 February 2011 in a 1–0 home defeat to former club Liverpool. Torres would later score his first goal against West Ham United in a 3–0 victory, which ended a run of 903 minutes of football without a goal.
This was his only goal for Chelsea in the 2010–11 season, having made 18 appearances for his new club.
So here we are nearly four years later after over 100 appearances for Chelsea Torres only scored 26 times in all competitions. Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho told the media shortly after the 2013-14 season. Mourinho indicated in an interview with Sky Sports News that there may be a departure in the transfer window.
But when asked if Torres was the player in question he said: “No. Three strikers is fundamental in a squad and we have three strikers – Fernando, Didier and Diego, so one of them is not [going] for sure.”
Torres’ trophy cabinet at Chelsea would include:
Europa League 2012/13
Champions League 2011/12
FA Cup 2011/12
Torres would later be loan listed after the addition of French International Loïc Rémy on August 3oth. Remy played for the Queens Park Rangers the previous season.
Torres would join Italian giants AC Milan a two-year loan on 31 August 2014 He debuted on 20 September 2014, replacing Andrea Poli for the last 14 minutes of a 1–0 home defeat against Juventus. He scored his first Milan goal with a looping header in their 2–2 draw with Empoli two days later.
AC Milan would sell Italian International Mario Balotelli to Liverpool on deadline day and the addition of Torres at the striker position was just a bitter sweet addition for the title hopefuls this season. Interestingly enough, Torres’ presence in the public eye for AC Milan easily makes him the most popular player currently at the club.
Last season, Jose Mourinho allowed another former Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku to go on loan to his now current club, Everton.
This of course could be the next phase for Torres. He has two years to prove to the Chelsea boss that he is still a very good professional and if he decides to keep his heart at Chelsea this would be a decent challenge for the Spanish international.
Relationships aside though. this is football and within the football world anything can happen. Transfers come out nowhere periodically and it really spices up the competition.
Unfortunately, Torres’ age may keep him from ever wearing a Chelsea shirt again. Now at the age of 30, he would be around 32 years old once he came back from his loan period with AC Milan.
One thing to note is the fact that AC Milan had a horrible 2013-14 campaign in all competitions finishing 8th in Serie A and finishing in the Round of 16 getting knocked out by Atlético Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Champions League.
If Torres can grasp on to the opportunity of taking AC Milan to new surroundings, expect a transfer bid from AC Milan on Mourinho’s desk at Cobham sometime in the near future. If not time will tell.
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