Fernando Torres - In or Out?

Fernando Torres

Chelsea may have everything going their way at this point of time, but what about Torres? Of course he is not going anywhere, but what is to be seen now is that will he be given as many starts as last season.

Last season Torres made 60 appearances for Chelsea, scoring just 22 goals, which is not good at all when you’re at a top club like Chelsea. That’s the reason Ba was brought in, in the January transfer window. Ba impressed during his early days at the club inspiring us to a few victories, one being his debut against Southampton in the FA Cup where he got a brace. The other a 1-0 home victory against West Brom with Ba being the only scorer, which I remember clearly as my birthday was on the same day and another 1-0 victory against Manchester United on April fools day, which knocked them out of the FA Cup.

This is when Torres somewhat begun to get his form back. Competition seemed to have played with his mind and he clearly didn’t enjoy watching Ba play from the bench. Rafa used the rotation policy. Torres was being given game time in the Europa league and Ba was the striker for the Premier League.

Ba didn’t have any option as he was cup-tied, having already played for Newcastle in the Europa League earlier that season. When it came to the FA Cup they were both being played equally.

But towards the end of the season, Ba was hardly on the field. Torres had shown an improvement in his form and the club has helped Torres at every stage whenever he has shown even a slight return to his original form by giving him more starts. It paid off finally. Torres led us to European glory and had a small part to play in helping us finish third in the Premier League.

Now that Lukaku has also returned from his successful loan spell at West Brom, the big question remains that who will be starting and who will be left out.

A few days ago there were strong reports that Cavani will be joining the attack as well. Thankfully, he won’t be sold to Chelsea now. Getting in a fourth striker when Chelsea usually play only one on the field (4-2-3-1) makes no sense.

Both the Manchester clubs had four strikers last season and even though they were playing two of them (4-4-2), the fourth striker was never happy. That’s the reason Balotelli left City & Rooney clearly has shown signs of discomfiture, after being pushed into the midfield.

This Torres saga has also created a rift between Chelsea fans. There are a few who want him to leave, and the others who want him to stay, which includes me, but as a back up.

Torres is a world class striker and that’s why till date, he remains the highest transfer fee (£50 million) in England when he moved from Liverpool.