Fernando Torres not for sale at any price, says André Villas-Boas
The Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas, has quashed speculation linking Fernando Torres with a move away from the club.
Reports had suggested Chelsea were willing to offload the striker, who has struggled for form since his £50m move from Liverpool, but Villas-Boas on Thursday ruled out the sale of the Spaniard.
"It's not true, I'm sorry," he said. "He is not available at any price, for sure."
Torres has made only six Premier League starts for Chelsea this season, with the in-form Didier Drogba first choice once more at Stamford Bridge. Villas-Boas, though, expects Torres to return to the first XI at some point.
"Everybody wants to be involved more," he said. "Fernando is pushing for a place with Didier who is on a good run at the moment and we are sure when Fernando is called up he will respond with the quality he has. It is a question of time when we see him back, sooner or later I don't know, but we have to make the best decision for the team.
"[Nicolas] Anelka, of course, will not be involved any more but we have [Daniel] Sturridge competing and [Romelu] Lukaku and Fernando competing when Didier will be away [at the Africa Cup of Nations] and hopefully we can make the best decision."
Villas-Boas also said that there is no problem in his relationship with Frank Lampard. The midfielder has been dropped to the bench in recent weeks and after his goalscoring substitute appearance against Manchester City revealed his discontent with the situation.
"Frank is not the only one," Villas-Boas said. "People are making great efforts to get into the Chelsea squad and Frank is one of the top five used players. Everyone wants to be involved in every game but sometimes it is not possible.
"I treat everybody equally. It's pretty clear everybody wants to play in every single game. You will find it from Frank but you will find it from [Florent] Malouda, [Salomon] Kalou and Paulo [Ferreira] the same. Everybody wants to play and pushes to be involved.
"There is no hiding that Lamps represents the best in history of the club. He and JT are near to 600 or 550 appearances. These are players of a massive magnitude for the club and represent Chelsea's success, but in our opinion every player must be treated equally and we try to be as fair and coherent as possible.
"Sometimes we make decisions that cannot please everybody, because it's a 24-man squad. That is the reality of football and there are no explanations."
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