My Fernando Torres

Chelsea star Fernando Torres has stated that he expects the Spanish national team to return to winning ways after being humiliated 5-1 by Netherlands in the opening group match at the World Cup 2014. Spain came into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the title. They have won the last three major tournaments in which they have participated. After having lost the Confederations Cup last summer, there were doubts as to whether Spain would struggle in this competition. The doubts only increased after a 5-1 humiliation against Netherlands.

Despite going into the half-time break with a 1-0 advantage thanks to a penalty from Xabi Alonso, Spain capitulated in the second half with Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben starring the Spanish defence apart. Both these players grabbed two goals each to move in front of several players in the FIFA Golden Boot award race. The defeat puts them at a serious disadvantage – especially with regard to goal difference – in order to get away from the group stages. The remaining two matches will be against Chile and Australia.

Torres, who came off the bench against Netherlands, says that he expects Spain to play like world champions against Chile. Torres has seen Diego Costa take up the first-team spot. “There are people who have taken advantage of the defeat to stick the boot in. But within the squad we don’t need to criticise ourselves. It would be easy to point fingers and look out for the guilty people to blame but that is an excuse for losers. This is a group which wins and loses together. The people who look to lay the blame are people who have competed at this level,” said the Chelsea striker.

After months of speculation, it was recently confirmed that he would stay at Chelsea into the new campaign.

Jose Mourinho’s ambition to add a new and reliable striker during the summer transfer window is nothing new as the Portuguese coach has been expressing his desire to improve the attacking department of the team by signing a fluent forward who can seriously increase Chelsea’s chances on not only competing in the Premier League but also the Champions League of the upcoming season.

Radamel Falcao from As.Monaco and Diego Costa from Athletico Madrid are the players which seem to be ones that Mourinho is most interested in signing but despite this, the former Real Madrid manager has already stated that Torres is not for sale.

"I keep saying the same Fernando is not the kind of player that with half a chance, he scores a goal. He's not the kind of guy that's going to score goal after goal. But the way he works, the way he moves, the work he contributes for the team... he is a player that I like, a player that the club respects and we are happy to have him next season, no problem." Mourinho announced.

Inter Milan is interested in signing Fernando Torres as the president of the Italian club, Piero Ausilio confirmed this by releasing statements which certified all of the rumors and links that were being spread around in the past few days.

"Yes, he is a player we're following. Torres's career speaks for itself, the titles he has won and the teams in which he has played. It's all about whether he has the right motivation and the desire to be part of a new ambitious project." Piero Ausilio said as he told reporters.

Selling Fernando Torres would give Jose Mourinho a cash injection that would help him in his journey of signing Diego Costa but it seems like the Spanish forward will be remaining at Stamford Bridge for another season.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has come to the support of Fernando Torres – just few days after criticising him indirectly for not performing well in the 3-1 defeat against Paris St Germain – by saying that striker still has a future at Chelsea.

Torres’ position at the club has come under increasing threat following a run of several matches without a goal. The striker has scored only four goals in the league this season and Mourinho has been critical of his performance throughout this campaign. The Portuguese has said that Chelsea would have been top of the table by a long-distance had his strikers scored more goals.

Only Samuel Eto’o has been able to salvage some pride by scoring more than 10 goals in what is turning out to be a poor season for Chelsea’s strikers. The club are heavily linked with moves for Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao in the summer. Torres, meanwhile, has been linked with a return to Atletico Madrid in the last few weeks. After appearing in the club’s new kit launch video, some of the rumours have died down. Mourinho has further attempted to instil some confidence in the player by saying that Torres remains part of Chelsea’s future.

The player still has two years left on his contract.
"Does he have a future? Yes, he has. He is under contract, he's a good professional. He works hard for the team, he brings positive things to the team. Obviously, we want him to score more goals. Obviously, he wants to score more goals. It's not just me that wants. People that give everything they have you never can blame and you never can complain. When he's on the pitch he tries to do his best,” said Mourinho.
Torres last scored for Chelsea towards the end of February in the 1-1 draw with Galatasaray.

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has once again raised the possibility of leaving the West London outfit in the summer after refusing to rule out a potential transfer rumours linking him with a return to Atletico Madrid.

Torres has been a failure at Chelsea after managing to score just 19 league goals in more than 100 appearances. Even though he has managed to lift the trophies like Champions League and FA Cup, it has been rumoured that Jose Mourinho wants to improve the frontline by bringing in a striker to score goals.

Mourinho has praised on several occasions the endeavour of the Spaniard, but he says that the club will certainly do well with the addition of a player to score goals. Chelsea have been widely linked with a move for Diego Costa, but signing him may prove to be a problem due to the financial fair play regulations. Hence, it has been rumoured that Chelsea are considering a swap deal involving Torres, which would potentially lower the price of Costa. It was also marked the return of the hometown hero, who left in 2007 for Liverpool.

Torres recently turned 30 years of age and spoke about the possibility of returning to Atletico Madrid. He refused to rule out a move by saying that anything is possible in football.

“In football, you never know. You don’t know where you’re going to be tomorrow, in a week’s time or in 10 years’ time. How can I answer that question? You never know where life is going to take you. There’s nothing to say I’d end up with Diego Simeone here (at Chelsea) or at Atleti. Who could have told me that I was going to coincide with Rafa Benitez at two different English clubs? He [Simeone] taught me how to be a captain; he taught me a lot in the seasons we played together at Atleti,” said Torres.

Along with many other Spanish players, Fernando Torres paid his tribute to the former Spain coach Luis Aragones who died at the age of 75 and the former Liverpool player praised the work that Aragones made not only for him but for the national team Spain.

'That is part of the learning process and it intensifies when you become a professional at 17 and you realize that the football you have known has nothing to do with the professional game. That is when Luis appeared in my life.

'Aragones was my teacher, the one who kept my feet on the ground and put the brakes on my ambition until I was ready for the next step. He would say to me every day: "Kid, you know nothing about nothing," and I came to realize that he did that because he was preparing me for the future and because he believed in me.'

Aragones is regarded to be the man that started the tiki-taka playing style that gave the team a big success leading them to a number of triumphs and securing trophies as well.

Fernando Torres worked together with Aragones at Atletico Madrid and they saw each other once more when playing at an international level in Spain. According to Torres, the success that Spain had in 2008 when they won the Euro was a hard path and not easy to accomplish but the players were protected from all the pressure and the criticism and that could only happen thanks to the coach Luis Aragones.

'He ended up making history as the man who changed Spanish football; who made us, dream, fight, believe in ourselves, and win. "Win, win, win" as we would shout before every game all with our hands on the ball.
'We did win and we will win again thanks to what we learned from you. You will never leave us because your legacy remains. Thanks old man, rest in peace.'

There is no doubt whatsoever that in this season the struggles that Chelsea are facing is in their attacking department as their striker are failing to score goals despite the inclusion of Eto’o and Demba Ba as some of the most recent acquisitions.

The majority of the goals are arriving from their midfielders as Oscar, Lampard, Ramires and Hazard are topping their list of goal-scorers. The £50 million move of Fernando Torres has been nothing but disappointing and now they are on the move for someone that can help them push to the top of the Premier League.

Monaco’s Radamel Falcao is a big target not only for Chelsea but other European clubs as well. Reports emerging from France are suggesting that Roman Abramovich has already sat down with Monaco owner Dmitri Rybolovlev trying to secure a deal for the Colombian forward.

The French side As.Monaco is willing to offload Falcao for a fee of £80 million and Chelsea might use Demba Ba and Fernando Torres in order to lower the initial asking price of the club.

Jose Mourinho has already stated his discomfort with his strikers inability to score goals, as he critiqued Fernando Torres.

Mourinho said: "When Torres has the ball on his feet with the back to the goal, he’s not a very skillful player, we know that. He was the Torres that we know, giving a hard time to the opponents’’.

"Without the ball he presses a lot and he’s not a comfortable opponent. When the team has the ball he’s the kind of guy that makes movements and tries to open space."
Fernando Torres is a much more likely suspect of being used as a bait in order to lower the price of Falcao as Chelsea are in dire need of someone that can help them win the Premier League as well as the Champions League.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech believes that striker Fernando Torres is slowly but surely getting back to his best, if he hasn’t done it already after the recent exploits of the striker.

Torres grabbed two crucial goals against German side Schalke 04 last week and his goal proved to be match winner for the Blues against Manchester City last weekend. And although many feel the Spanish international striker still hasn’t done justice to his £ 50 million price tag, Cech believes it is a matter of time before they get to see the Torres of old, tearing apart defenses on his own.

Speaking to the club’s in house television channel, the Czech Republic skipper stated that this has been a matter of debate for a very long time and stated that there have been many games in the past few seasons in which the player had been brilliant but just because he didn’t get his name on score sheet, there was a lot of talk about his form dipping.

But now, Fernando Torres is not only playing well but he is also creating goals and getting his name on the score sheet and Cech feels he is playing as well as he has done throughout his career and it is only a matter of time before all the debate about his form is put to rest.

And although the player was not a part of the club’s Capital One Cup win against Arsenal, Petr Cech believes the Spanish striker will play a pivotal role as Chelsea battle to reclaim the Premier League title, which they haven’t won in the past three seasons. He feels it is still the beginning of the season and as it progresses, Fernando Torres will show just what exactly he is capable of doing to opposition defenses.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has promised to fix misfiring striker Fernando Torres and has vowed to once again make him one of the most feared strikers in England as well as Europe.

The 29 year old Spanish international was given an extended summer holiday by Mourinho after his exploits for Spain in the FUFA Confederations Cup in Brazil and returned to action just last week in the club’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan in the Guinness Intentional Champions Cup. Torres was one of the most lethal sharp shooters in Europe during his stint at Liverpool as he used his tremendous off the ball pace to latch on to passes by Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso and scored many goals in that manner.

However, since his whopping £ 50 million move from Liverpool to Chelsea, Fernando Torres has been a shadow of his former self and his failure to replicate his form at Anfield at Stamford Bridge has been one of the biggest mysteries of the Premier League in recent times.

Many argue one of the main reasons he has failed at Chelsea is because he has been deployed as an all round centre forward instead of just being the out and out, clinical finisher that he was under Rafael Benitez at Liverpool.

The club’s chase for Manchester United and England international striker Wayne Rooney has put further question marks regarding the future of Torres at the club but Mourinho has insisted the Spaniard figures hugely in his plans for Chelsea. He mentioned that he knows how Fernando Torres plays, he has seen how he holds up defenders with his back to the goal and the team needs to understand how he plays in order to get the best out of him and not solely rely on his goal scoring attributes.

Senegalese striker Demba Ba has insisted that he will fight for his place at Chelsea even if the club is successful in their chase to land Manchester United and England international striker Wayne Rooney.

Ba, who joined the club in the January transfer window from Premier League club Newcastle United for a cut price £ 7.5 million, already has competition for the striker’s role with Spanish international Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku, who has returned to the club following a hugely successful loan spell at West Bromwich Albion and new signing Andre Schurrle.

But Ba is adamant he still has a future at Stamford Bridge in the wake of the club’s first bid for Rooney being rejected by Manchester United, who insists that the England international is not for sale at any price.

Incoming Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that there has been no further progress in the club’s chase of Rooney but it is being believed the West London club will return with an improved bid for their prime summer transfer target.

And according to Ba, competition for places is a brilliant thing at the club and the results will only prove to be positive as it will bring out the best in the players. And speaking of his own future at the club, Ba stated that he will stay, adding that he thinks the club needs competition and will welcome the best players in the world at the club.

Ba added that more competition will make him a better player. All players want to get a game, no matter which position he plays in. He insisted that all players will work in the same direction for the betterment of the club and will try to bring in more trophies and glory for Chelsea as much as they can.

Arsene Wenger will finally have reasons to be happy after his team have been on a good run of form in the last month. Ever since the 3-1 defeat suffered against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, they have been able to close the gap on Chelsea and Tottenham in the race for the top four positions.

Arsenal have managed to get 5 wins in the last six matches, which is a form only bettered by Manchester United. The team will be preparing to face Norwich during the weekend. This match will certainly not be easy according to Wenger, but his hoping that his team reduce the pressure by scoring an early goal.

Norwich have almost secured their Premier league status, which has resulted in a huge drop in form over the last couple of matches. Since the 2-1 win against Everton, Norwich have managed just three points in the last five matches. This abysmal run of form has meant that the teams in the relegation zone have been able to inch closer towards Chris Hughton's men. As a result, Norwich need a couple of wins in order to be sure of Premier league survival. Hence, they will be pumped up for the match according to Wenger, who has called on his players to score early in the match to avoid the nerves.

"Once we are in front, the teams who usually defend against us have to come out and that gives us space to develop our game even better. That shows you that when we start our games in a positive way, we can dominate. It shows you just how important the confidence is to go into the games and to have a strong start. I believe our team has always developed a way to play that makes them stronger throughout the season," said Wenger.