Fernando Torres

[Gingawaria]

Anyway... How I see it.

We bought one of the best young players in the world with lots of (largely unfulfilled) potential and with us, he became the best striker in the world for two or three seasons. We were ecstatic. We loved him.

He peaked, requested a transfer to a club with a better chance of winning trophies (we had not long been bought by FSG after the nightmare period of H&G) and we got a record fee for him. A bit of blow to us all (OK - that's an understatement in some cases). Where was the loyalty? He was deserting us in an our of desperate need.

Much wailing ensued. Probably because he went to a direct rival instead of a Spanish one. His achievements, his spectacular, important, vital goals were wiped from the collective memory. He was banished.

He made a dreadful decision, seems to have regretted it ever since and he has regressed to a greater extent than any other player in living memory. Very quickly he became a shell of his former self and is now a laughing stock / object of sympathy depending on your point of view.

Each of those are fine.

But I just don't understand some of the vitriol still directed at him. I mean, some of the guys on here look desperately jilted at times.


Had he stayed, would his decline been as pronounced? Unlikely. But I have a feeling his peak was behind him. His pace had gone, as had his power, and more importantly, his head too.

He wanted out, we sold him for peak value, and he has not been worth anywhere near his fee since. We won. We cashed in. We have had the last laugh. Chelsea lost in that deal. Torres lost too.

Feel free to disagree with any of that. He's vile after all.

I'd argue it's worked out quite well for us and Torres, we got £50m for a player on the decline. He got a move to a club that was challenging and now has an FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League medal in his collection. Professionally, it's hard to argue that it wasn't the right move for him, regardless of how well he's played since.

[dom9]

I'd argue it's worked out quite well for us and Torres, we got £50m for a player on the decline. He got a move to a club that was challenging and now has an FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League medal in his collection. Professionally, it's hard to argue that it wasn't the right move for him, regardless of how well he's played since.

It is incredible to think that despite his abilities dipping so starkly he managed that haul of medals.

It's an interesting question, and one that only he could answer. Would have preferred to have continued to scale the heights, or would he have preferred the medals with hindsight?

[Bender]

Torres v Werder Bremen today

[Boogs]

Good job it's only pre season. He looks rusty

[G]

He needs to be put down at this stage. It's painful.

[Bender]

Good job it's only pre season. He looks rusty

so by your comment he's had a 38 game pre season for chelsea since joining them

[McDermotX]

Good jaysus !!

Both horrific and hilarious.

[Cormack74]

Good job it's only pre season. He looks rusty

How can you tell

[Bender]

[Roboklopp]

What a total ****. Is that real?

Talk about supporting your team.

[Daffy Duck]

I think he was one of the Liverpool fans he was at the AC Milan game, the rest of his company had LFC tops.

[Bender]

Ferencvaros v Chelsea this evening
[ame="http://youtu.be/JfqpugDDnkE"]F2DD304D421110329989708115968 2b951d48702 2 1 10595372192757128410 - YouTube[/ame]

[RichC]

I've never seen a player decline as much as Torres, bewildering to think how good he was with us compared to the player you see at Chelsea

[Leyton388]

Gerrard & Rafa made him the player he was with us.

[kingfunk]

surely he is up there with shevchenko. Mourinho can't coach attacking players, he has a revolving door of expensive forward players with raw talent. Torres needs coaching, five minutes with Brendan and he would be half decent again.