Fernando Torres

[Lee]

Have him back in a second.

He's lost a lot about him but he was very good last season. Not prolific but he played well and had plenty of assists.

The Torres of 2007-09 was incredible. Then he was ****. Then he turned good.

But I just wish we'd have seen him up top with Suarez. That'd have been a right force.

[Phoenix07]

EXCLUSIVE: Torres feeling blue again ahead of Juve clash... as it emerges Liverpool considered shock summer reunion.
By Neil Ashton

PUBLISHED:22:30, 17 September 2012| UPDATED: 08:25, 18 September 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz26oBBrUMq

After storming down the tunnel at Loftus Road on Saturday, Fernando Torres found little to smile about at Chelsea's training ground on Monday.

The £50million striker is retreating into his shell again, making his displeasure known after he was substituted nine minutes from time against QPR.

Torres expects to start against Juventus on Wednesday night as Chelsea begin the defence of the Champions League, but his confusing body language is cause for concern.

At times he has hankered after a return to Liverpool, the club who converted him from lethal finisher to world-class forward after his move from Atletico Madrid in 2007.

Had Damien Comolli, Liverpool's former director of footballer strategy, got his way it could easily have happened after he explored the extraordinary possibility of re-signing the striker.

In February this year, Comolli was stunned when a prominent member of the Liverpool dressing room knocked on the door to his office and pleaded with him to investigate the proposition.

Torres had been sold by Liverpool a year earlier, taking a pay cut to sign for Chelsea on a five-year deal, but had struggled to settle into his rhythm.

Carlo Ancelotti, the manager when Torres arrived, had been fired after Chelsea's failure to defend the Premier League or win the European Cup.

Last season, between October 19 and March 18, the striker went five months - or 25 hours and 40 minutes - without scoring.


Andre Villas-Boas, sacked during the barren run, even moved Juan Mata's peg in the Chelsea dressing room to help the Spanish pair settle in.

Nothing appeared to click. At Liverpool, Comolli considered whether to put forward the unthinkable when he flew to Florida to discuss the summer transfer targets with Liverpool's owners John W Henry and Tom Werner.

Liverpool's players were used to Torres' ways, ducking out of social nights and rounds of golf with his team-mates and Torres had been a cult figure at Anfield, scoring 65 goals in 102 appearances in the Barclays Premier League.

It was a mouth-watering prospect for Comolli as he sifted through the statistics.

The 28-year-old scored 81 goals on Merseyside, with 56 of them resulting from a defence-splitting pass.

The Liverpool way suited the Spain striker and at least one player in that dressing room said Luis Suarez would benefit if they could be paired together.

The Uruguayan had been signed in January 2011 as a second striker and Comolli knew he would not be able to match his incredible goalscoring ratio in the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax.

Comolli worked on his own rule of thumb that, with the exception of Ruud van Nistelrooy, strikers imported from Holland only score around a third of the goals in the Premier League.

Suarez scored 81 times in 110 appearances at Ajax; he has 17 in 48 appearances in the Premier League.

Dirk Kuyt scored 71 times in 98 appearances for Feyenoord; at Anfield, he scored 51 goals in 208 appearances.

So Comolli was excited about the prospect of re-signing Torres, but it was a transfer fraught with difficulties.

He expected the fee to be prohibitive and that Roman Abramovich would be an unwilling seller.

Comolli did not get the chance to pursue it, after he was fired without warning by Werner and Henry on April 12 this year, two days before the FA Cup semi-final with Everton.

Two weeks later, Torres scored against Barcelona in injury time of the Champions League semi-final to put Chelsea through to face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

After winning the Champions League final, Torres claimed: 'I have been through the worst moments of my career during the season.

'I felt they treated me in a way I was not expecting.'

Despite his side being linked with Atletico striker Falcao, this term Torres is the focal point of Chelsea's attack, the main striker in a system designed specifically for his assets.

He has scored twice in the Premier League this season, but Roberto Di Matteo's system has some mild teething problems.

Wednesday evening, against a resurgent Juventus, is the right time to administer some painkillers.

[Shaggy]

It's clear in my view that Suarez playing just off Torres would've been a mou****ering prospect. And, while Torres obviously isn't the player he was, still would be IMO.

[Lee]

It's clear in my view that Suarez playing just off Torres would've been a mou****ering prospect. And, while Torres obviously isn't the player he was, still would be IMO.

[Reece]

"In February this year, Comolli was stunned when a prominent member of the Liverpool dressing room knocked on the door to his office and pleaded with him to investigate the proposition."

Got to be Reina, surely?

[Lee]

That's who I thought. Or even Gerrard?

[Neil Young]

He expected the fee to be prohibitive and that Roman Abramovich would be an unwilling seller.

Minor details...

[Shaggy]

That's who I thought. Or even Gerrard?

Gerrard I thought.

Minor details...

Haha yeah

[Muddled]

I don't think Torres took a pay-cut to join Chelsea.

[Chris]

Thank **** that didn't happen. He's staggeringly poor now.

Almost felt sorry for him as a truly world class striker in Falcao ran riot while he was stood up the other end mis controlling the ball everytime it got to him. Getting loads of stick from them lot for his latest disgraceful performance aswell which is nice.

[Rich]

Thank **** that didn't happen. He's staggeringly poor now.

Almost felt sorry for him as a truly world class striker in Falcao ran riot while he was stood up the other end mis controlling the ball everytime it got to him. Getting loads of stick from them lot for his latest disgraceful performance aswell which is nice.

Did he run over your cat or post dog**** through your letterbox or something?

[dom9]

I don't think he's staggeringly poor. He's nowhere near the heights he hit either. But he would improve what we have currently.

[Rich]

I can't fathom why someone gets so angry about a person they've never met.

It is clear that Torres isn't the player he once was but I'd swap him for any LFC player apart from Lucas and Allen to be honest.

[Chris]

It is clear that Torres isn't the player he once was but I'd swap him for any LFC player apart from Lucas and Allen to be honest.

Thats because you don't know a lot about football.

[Vermilion]

If it was Pepe that knocked on Commolli's door and asked him to move for Torres, i wonder whether he was pre armed with the knowledge direct from the horses mouth that he himself would be keen on a return ?