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The signs have been appearing for a couple of months now which suggest that this close season will see Fernando Torres end his ill fated three-and-a-half year spell with Chelsea and leave for somewhere new - or perhaps old, as rumors seem to suggest he will be returning to his boyhood club Atletico Madrid. Mourinho has made it clear in recent months he does not trust his centre forwards and it is very possible Torres could be used as a makeweight in any deal for Atletico striker Diego Costa. It has been well documented throughout his time at Stamford Bridge that he has never hit form, never went on a consistent scoring run and essentially never got close to showing why Roman Abramovich splashed out £50million for his services on deadline day back in January 2011. But the question must be asked, could a player of his undoubted ability simply have lost his natural talent? Of course not. I believe his problems stem from how the team around him is set up to play.
Throughout his time at the club, Torres has generally played in front of three attacking midfielders such as Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Malouda and Willian but to name a few. One criticism which has been constantly thrown at Fernando is that with such strong attacking players in front of him providing him with service, he should be scoring many more goals than is the case. However, this is a lazy view, simply looking at the names playing behind him and expecting it all to work when there is much more to it than that.
The fact is that yes, Chelsea have had great attacking midfielders and this year boasts the talents of an exciting Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian and Andre Schurrle. However, the style of play which these players have adapted in actual fact hinders rather than helps a player like Torres. Fernando Torres has always built him game on making intelligent runs and getting the ball played into the space behind the defenders which he has so often punished to devastating effect. His game is suited to running on to the ball in space, allowing him to then run at defenders and cause problems for opposition teams. However when playing with whichever trio of attacking midfielders supporting him at Chelsea, this game plan simply is not possible.
For this to work midfielders must be willing to play a quick ball into the space, being direct with their passes to the striker and looking to get the forward away quickly on the attack - this is what Torres has built his career on. But the highly talented midfielders which Chelsea can boast simply do not want to do this. They are all very similar players, all of whom would ideally wish to play in the number 10 role behind the striker. The fact is that they all wish to play short sharp passes between each other hoping to unlock the defence. They want to probe and find a way through the back-line with an intelligent killer pass, but they are doing this on the edge of the opposition's penalty box and therefore leaving no space for a striker to run into behind the defense. So many times in recent seasons Chelsea have had possession on the edge of the opposing penalty area and the attacking midfielders play it between themselves looking to find a way through. It is by playing this way that Torres has suffered.
With the attacking midfielders camped in and around the edge of the penalty box, probing for a gap or a space to slide a pinpoint pass into, there is no room for a striker such as Torres to hang on the shoulder of the last defender and make a run into the space behind. He simply has nowhere to go and this makes it so difficult for him then to receive the ball in an area where he can punish the opposition.
But lets not forget, he is not the only striker to suffer due to the slow build up play of the midfield. It is no coincidence that all three strikers this season have looked so ordinary and have had so few chances to score. The simple fact is that unless Chelsea change their build up play, choose to attack at a much quicker pace and at a speed which prevents the opposition defence from getting set in their shape, strikers will always struggle to spearhead the attack. Fernando Torres has showing glimpses of promise, shades of his former self without every really pushing on and regaining any sort of form. But if he does move this summer, he will be given a new lease of life, refreshed and revitalised away from the constant pressure he felt under at Chelsea. Fernando Torres will shine again...but it will not be at Chelsea Football Club.
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