Torres Still a Part of Chelsea's Future

    Since Torres’ £50m move to Chelsea from Liverpool in the January transfer window of 2010 he has had a horrid time mostly playing second fiddle to Drogba and hypothetically not starting at all under the short reign of Andre Villas Boas. However despite this he has the continued support from his players, his manager Di Matteo and the owner Abramovich which has helped him through this difficult time.

    For a £50m striker you expect goals but they seemed to have dried up mostly because he was a substitute and for the fact when chances came his way he ruined the opportunity by missing or passing to a team-mate who scored instead. However near the end of this season he has showed signs of improvement and enjoyment which inevitably gives confidence.

    Torres this season has been more of a creator than goal scorer but this shouldn’t be the way for a £50m striker. It wasn’t until his goal against Aston Villa away from home that signs of improvement were occurring. His performances got better and better and soon enough he repaid Chelsea with the biggest gift he could ever give.  Torres came on as a late substitute in the Champions League Semi-Final against Barcelona at the Nou Camp with only minutes left. However within this short space of time he showed Chelsea fans why he was brought for £50m.

    After a long clearance by Ashley Cole deep inside his box, Torres beautifully controlled the ball on the half-way line before running down on goal, rounding Barcelona goalkeeper Valdez and calmly rolling the ball into the net which sent Chelsea through to the Champions League Final. Not much of a celebration from Torres because at some point in his life he wants to play for Barcelona – highly unlikely but you never know.

    Gary Neville after having what has been branded a ‘goalgasm’ went on to say that “I think the last 18 months have been forgotten in the space of 2 seconds.” I think this might be the case for Chelsea fans but not for us neutrals, a similar situation however was Andy Carroll’s late headed goal against Liverpool’s rivals Everton in the dying moments of the FA Cup Semi-Final to send Liverpool to the FA Cup Final. Similar words were said for the £35m man but one moment surely doesn’t remove a huge price tag, consistency and goals removes this – sorry Liverpool and Chelsea fans but this is kind of true.

    Torres in a home game against QPR showed possibly his best performance in a blue shirt as he grabbed a superb hat-trick which was thoroughly deserved after what had happened to him this season. Mata provided most of his goals that day and this link-up between the two Spaniards will be critical next season if Torres is to score a mass amount of goals not to mention being a starter in the team.

    Despite Torres’ run of good form he found himself on the bench in the final yet again falling second fiddle to Didier Drogba – who not only scored the equaliser to send the game to extra-time but also scored the winning penalty to give Abramovich his Champions League trophy. Torres was just a late substitute who didn’t have enough time to make a huge effect on the game. Torres hit out at Chelsea by saying “it was a huge disappointment when I saw the line-up, perhaps the biggest in my life” and continued on to say “I’ve felt like they [Chelsea] treated me in a way that I didn’t expect.” He also said that during preparation for the shootout "they wouldn't let me take a penalty." Very harsh words from the £50m man but you can see his point, he knows with a price tag that big he has to start near enough every game and provide but this just hasn’t happened and I do have sympathy for him.

Supposedly Torres was going to have talks with the board about his future and to see what his role in the Chelsea squad will be next season. In terms of his role, news has recently come about Torres that when he went up to collect his medal Abramovich hugged Torres, told him “you are Chelsea’s future” and then kissed him. This has been picked up by many sources including radio show ‘talkSport’ and many newspapers. Whether this is true or not may have implications on Torres's Chelsea career but most stories that are heard on ‘talkSport’ are usually true as they have good, reliable sources.

    With the rumours of Chelsea being linked with Atletico Madrid’s brilliant forward Falcao, Torres knows he has to step up his game. A positive for Torres must have been the news that Drogba was leaving therefore he may now rethink these talks and stay as he might now need to be Chelsea’s main striker in either a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 formation.

    All that is left is for Torres to decide on what he wants but it’s probably a given that he’ll stay due to the fact that Drogba has left and Abramovich has given him his full backing (supposedly) so maybe next season we will get to view Torres getting the goals that will make Chelsea a title challenger along with the Manchester Clubs.