Fernando Torres’ future has been the subject of attention from the football media, and now Jose Mourinho has conceded that the Spaniard’s performances for Chelsea so far have not been of the highest standard.
Mourinho’s arrival came as good news for the Chelsea supporters, and there seems to be a new burst of enthusiasm at Stamford Bridge, with owner Roman Abramovich seemingly ready to support the manager with more-than-adequate funds for world class signings. However, the former Real Madrid coach’s arrival did come as a warning sign to those players of the squad who were struggling to find their form in the side.
The Blues have been linked with various star signings this summer, including Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao. Abramovich has been making all possible attempts to lure the biggest targets to Stamford Bridge, but is so far failing to do so. However, on a positive front, the club have managed to finally sign Bayer Leverkusen attacker Andre Schurrle after months of negotiations with the German club.
One player who has constantly been linked with a move away from Chelsea is Torres. The former Atletico Madrid star had four successful seasons with Liverpool, and seemed the striker everyone wanted in their team. The 29-year old then signed for the Blues in 2011 for a mega figure of £50 million. The price tag seemed to take its toll on the player, who could not live up to the expectations of millions of supporters. Torres has played a total of 82 matches for Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League, scoring a mere 15 goals to show. Despite his form showing drastic improvements in this past season, supporters are yet hoping for a star signing who replicate the magical form showed by legend Didier Drogba during his time at the club.
According to SkySports, Mourinho has not only confessed about Torres’ dismal form, but also talked about how signing Andrei Shevchenko during his time was not a mistake. Mourinho said that there were some signings which did not work, and Shevchenko joins Torres in that department.
Mourinho said, “Torres so far is so-so. Somebody could expect more because of his potential, because of what he did before. But not so bad as people sometimes try to say.”
“There is a balance. Normally, the tendency is to say it was a big mistake. It was a big mistake because it didn’t work.”
Talking about the Ukrainian, he continued: “Shevchenko? It’s not true the owner forced him on me.”
“Never, never during my time did the owner interfere in the basic things of the manager – training sessions, team selection, the profile of player I want to bring.”