Jose Mourinho confirms Fernando Torres isn't leaving Chelsea

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has confirmed that striker Fernando Torres will be missing for “ a few weeks” with a knee injury, but backed Demba Ba to step up and replace the Spaniard if needed. Torres picked up the injury in the 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday, having come on as a substitute for the side’s hat trick hero Samuel Eto’o, meaning that Ba will not be allowed to leave the club during the transfer window.

“Now we lose Fernando for a few weeks with something in his lateral ligament [in his knee] and that is why we have Demba in the squad,” said Mourinho.

“We decided not to open the door to him [to leave] because he is a good player and we need him. The next few weeks is Demba and Samuel and I hope they do well for us.”

Mourinho hopes that Ba will take his chance in the coming games and praised his work in training.

“It’s time for Demba. It’s a pity because Nando (Torres) is in a good moment, but it’s time for Demba.”

“Demba had a fantastic week; (it was) very difficult for me to leave him out of selection because he worked very, very well. Next matches is for Demba or Samuel. Let’s go.”

Eto’o was selected ahead of Torres on Sunday, despite the Spanish forward having two goals in two games prior to the game, and Mourinho explained the reasoning behind Eto’o’s selection.

“I had a strong team physically, the people in the back four plus David in front of them was a physical team, after that I had the creative players and I thought I needed some more movement some quality around the box,” he said.

“Fernando is more about pace, power and space and I was feeling today that Man United were trying to be compact, trying to press us and I needed someone like Samuel.”