When it was officially announced that Fernando Torres had joined Chelsea on deadline day in January, it was a move that was supposed to improve the stagnating West London club and boost their chances of winning the Champions League. A British record £50m move from Liverpool added to the already high expectations of Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea faithful where the goals were anticipated to flow freely from the Spaniard.
Yet, things haven’t gone entirely to plan for Torres since his move. Having made his tenth appearance for the club in the 1-0 home win over Wigan, he has, thus far, played a whopping 817 minutes of football in a Chelsea shirt and has failed hit the back of the net in any of them. Comparisons have, undoubtedly, been made to the Blues former record signing Andriy Shevchenko but how do both compare?
Well, the Ukrainian scored on his debut in the 2-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool in 2006 and followed that up with his first Premier League goal ten days later against Middlesbrough. Despite having a sporadic record with the club, he ended his first season with fourteen goals in all competitions adding a further eight in his second.
Granted, he had a full pre-season with his team-mates under his belt and hadn’t been short on confidence in the time leading up to his move but his record up against Torres’ so far speaks for itself. The demand to succeed would have been all too similar having broken the clubs transfer record with his £30.8m move from AC Milan.
Throughout his spell with the club, Shevchenko also posed a threat to opposition defences during his time on the pitch and his slim return in goals with testifies to that. Torres, on the other hand, has looked a shade of the player that shone so brightly in his early years at Liverpool. Injury and a severe loss of confidence have clearly taken their toll on a player, whose shirt sales outsold that of his Liverpool replacement, Andy Carroll, 250-1.
Shevchenko is a firm believer that Torres will begin his scoring form sooner rather than later and I am of the same opinion of the Ukrainian. However, if you are to believe today’s Daily Mail, Abramovich isn’t quite as confident as Shevchenko. Bob Cass wrote that the Russian oligarch is reportedly ready to consider offers for the Spaniard in the summer. If he were to sell the Spaniard, it would be a foolhardy move on Abramovich’s part.
Granted, Torres isn’t performing to his previous high standards of his Liverpool days but selling him at such a substantial loss will prove that signings made by the owner aren’t the best way to go. It is no secret that Abramovich was the one who signed Shevchenko and it is the same man who bought Torres to Stamford Bridge. Convinced by the brace he scored against his club in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, Abramovich made his signature top priority.
As for now, Torres may not be hitting the back of the net as regularly as fans would be hoping for. Yet, as everyone in football knows, form is temporary, class is permanent and the Spaniard oozes the latter on his day.
In regards to the comparison between Torres and Shevchenko, well it is too early to even cast judgement. The former has played ten games for his new club, the latter had two seasons. In eighteen months, then it will be possible to make a fair opinion on both.
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