WHY
THE EXPENSIVE FLOP, FERNANDO TORRES MUST GO
Just
when the transfer window was nearing a close on January 31 2011, there was the
biggest and ground-breaking transfer news. Fernando Torres had signed a
five-and-half year contract with Chelsea football club from Liverpool, in a
whooping fifty million pounds deal. At the time, he had lost form and was
struggling to regain full fitness after recovering from a major knee injury. At
first thought, it seemed a good deal as he was undoubtedly a few years before
then, one of the best strikers in the game. He had even made it to the top
three of the FIFA world player of the year shortlist in 2008 after he joined
Liverpool from boyhood club, Atletico Madrid for a record transfer fee in
2007.He scored lots of goals in his first season and exceeded the 20 league
goals mark, a record held by Robbie Fowler in 1995-1996, in his debut season
and as well became the fastest player in Liverpool to reach 50 goals. The stats
were there for all to examine. Everyone at Stamford Bridge was optimistic, a
new breeze of fresh life was coming after the very successful career of club
talisman and goal scorer, Didier Drogba, was drawing to an end because of
advanced age.
Sales of
jerseys soared around the world and excitement levels of Chelsea fans escalated
as it was the biggest transfer news in and around England at the time. The then
coach, Carlo Ancelotti would go on to field him against his former club,
Liverpool on his Chelsea debut. A very torrid afternoon he had in the hands of
Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger,who would not even allow the striker a yard of
breathing space, culminating in a 1-0 defeat for Chelsea and a debut to forget
for the Spanish chap.Worse games were on the cards for Torres in his Chelsea career,
as he went some 903 footballing minutes without a goal for the club, only to
score his first goal against west ham united after four months on 23rd
April,2011.This barren run continued and his course was not helped either as
Didier was for the most parts selected for the big games instead so ended the
season with just a goal in five months.
The next
season began, and his goal duck continued, Torres scored only his second goal
on 18th September 2011 against Manchester United in a game he missed
an open goal and scored his third against Swansea city. Fast forward, on 19th
October, 2011, he scored his first Chelsea brace against Racing Genk in the
champions league and scored another Chelsea brace in an F.A cup game against Leicester
city .Ridiculously, Fernando Torres went an amazing 24 games without a goal .Life
was not favorable for the Spaniard in Chelsea as the striker often found
confidence difficult to garner. Anytime Didier warmed up on the sidelines to
replace him, the fans went gaga, chanting Drogba’s name loud in the stadium.
Chelsea’s
most expensive player [flop] would go on to score his first league goal since
24th September, 2011 on March 31, 2012 in a game against Aston Villa.
The striker’s uncomfortable Chelsea career for a few days was spared some
tongue-lashing by pundits, critics and fans alike, when he replaced Didier
Drogba in the Semifinal Champions league game against Barcelona to score a last
gasp wonder goal, many have since described as his best Chelsea moment, to
salvage a 2-2 draw in a pulsating encounter in which the team played close to
50 minutes with 10 men. Captain John Terry was sent off for kneeing Alexis
Sanchez in that game. The team went ahead to win the ultimate in the final
against Bayern Munich in Munich on penalties.
2012/2013
season commenced in Ernest. Torres and his Spanish compatriot Juan Mata were
given some rest for their EURO 2012 exertions after winning the trophy .He
scored in the community shield game against Manchester City which the team lost
3-2 on August 19,2012 and scored his first league goal of the season against
reading ,another against Newcastle ,Arsenal and then Norwich ,as Chelsea made
the summit of the table in the first few weeks of the season and scored his first
champions league goal against Shaktar on November 7,2012.The striker’s overly
inconsistent form continued and got Chelsea fans worried.
Benitez
was appointed as an unpopular successor to Roberto Di Matteo and it was rumored
that Benitez held the key to unlock the disappointing striker’s career. Before
Benitez’s appointment, Torres had gone an outrageous 11 hours of football
without a goal……………many fans began calling for his head but for some reason,
this would not happen. He finally managed to break that extended goal drought
with 2 goals in Chelsea’s mauling of FC Norsdjaelland in the champions league
in December 2012.Three days on, he scored another 2 goals in the premier league
ending an eight match run without a goal, scored against Monterrey in the FIFA
club world cup, and then against Leeds united in the league cup, followed by
another in the match with Aston Villa, his most positive run of 7 goals in 6
games in December for the club. Whispers of the striker being back to his best
were heard in and around the bridge, though the neutrals believed otherwise.
Throughout
his tumultuous Chelsea career, he has been in and out of the Spanish national
team for inconsistency and loss of form .Chelsea fans still had some false
hopes that someday their expensive out-of-sorts striker would hit top form .Torres
has had all the opportunities in the world to hit top form, successive managers
since Carlo Ancelotti have all given the striker enough playing time to salvage
his career, yet consistently he has failed to deliver. Creative trident of Mata,
Oscar and Hazard create so many chances for the striker but the chap just would
not deliver as if he has been cursed. Torres has scored a meager two goals all
year since January, a dampening return for a player who was once the best
striker in the game. He has already this season, endured a 19 game non-scoring
run after which he scored a goal and missed a penalty versus Steaue Bucharest
in the team’s Europa league game.
Any
player with this negative record in any team would very likely be released, but
due to some if you like managerial biases, Torres someway, somehow still finds
himself in the team playing games after games after games.
The
stats stand at a miserly 28 goals in 142 appearances for the flop in all competitions,
a poor return by all standards for the Spanish striker. Chelsea would do
themselves a lot of good by letting this chap leave, so as to recruit a better
replacement that can feed off the creative talents of Chelsea’s attacking
trident-Mata, Hazard and Oscar, and deliver for the team. Retaining Torres in
this Chelsea team would be like pouring water on rocks, already their season
has been defined by gross inconsistencies and trophylessness looks very very
likely on the cards this season and might as well continue the seasons after if
the team does not act fast to throw the flop through the window, and get efficient
replacements, for Torres has proven beyond all doubts that Chelsea is not his home,
perhaps a return to his boyhood club might help redefine his ailing career.
This has not happened, perhaps the dude is being given another chance, but I
doubt if anything would change.
Story
by-Kingsley Adom
Ghana
Institute of Journalism
E-mail;kingsleykomla@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment