Premier League Transfers - Do Chelsea really need Fernando Torres?
The Premier League season begins in August and as we all know this is transfer season. One rumour that refuses to go away to the delight of some Chelsea fans and the annoyance of all Liverpool ones, Fernando Torres to Chelsea for a record British transfer.
Torres has been phenomenal since joining Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007. A prolific goal scorer who has blinding pace and a good eye for goal so then why do so many people question whether the English Champions Chelsea should make a move for the Spaniard, fresh off of a World Cup victory?
There are a number of reasons. First and foremost, Torres has had an injury plagued time in England and before that in Spain. Even on the international stage his fitness has been questioned. In the games that he started for Spain he looked a shadow of his former self and the final said it all as he came on for a few minutes in extra time to help Spain round up the World Cup but fell down, unchallenged and had to be taken off. When fit, Fernando Torres is a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately for him, and fortunately for his opponents, he is unfit more often than he is fit, of late.
The second reason could be explained in two simple words, Didier Drogba. The Ivory Coast hitman scored an astonishing 37 goals in all competitions last season and as Nicolas Anelka will tell anyone who has the time to listen, it is very difficult to score when playing with Didier Droga. Although a team man, Drogba's physique and holding skills mean that he is the man every Chelsea player is looking for. The last time Chelsea signed a big named striker, Andriy Shevchenko, it was a flop. Not entirely because of Shevchenko's failure to settle down in the Premier League, but mostly due to the fact that he had to settle for left-overs while Drogba scored the majority of the goals.
The last thing the Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti should be aware of is that Fernando Torres comes with a very high price tag and since Chelsea will probably only be able to spend so much once this year, it is much more sensible to spend the money on a creative midfielder or a winger, which Chelsea desperately need. After the sale of Joe Cole, a hole has been left that Yossi Benayoun is very unlikely to fulfil, despite the Israeli international’s talent.
It remains to be seen what the Chelsea management decide to do with their transfer season. Although the club maintained that young players like Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini and Nemanja Matic will be given a run in the team instead of making any major signing, it is always difficult to predict what a club the size of Chelsea will do, with the resources they have at hand. Spending 50-60Million on an injury prone striker though seems like a decision the club will regret in the future.
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