The End Of The Line For Fernando Torres At Chelsea

The Spanish forward Fernando Torres might be currently enjoying his last days at Chelsea. The 30-year old once prolific goalscorer will probably be the one José Mourinho will chose to leave the Blues in order for the team to comply with the UEFA Champions League and English Premier League rules regarding the home-grown player quota. According to those rules, clubs are only able to registrate seventeen foreign players over the age of twenty-one in their squads and currently Chelsea have eighteen, after the return of the Ivorian football legend Didier Drogba this Summer.

There are, although, plenty more options for José Mourinho to choose from, although the Portuguese head coach believes that Fernando Torres is the one to have more potential buyers in the market currently. Obi Mikel and Petr Cech were the two other options allegedly considered, nevertheless both of them might still have a word to say at Stamford Bridge, especially when compared with the Spanish striker.

The Czech goalkeeper, for example, is still one of the best in the World in his position and not even the return of an outstanding goalie such as Thibaut Courtois to Chelsea means that his career at the London side is over.

Chelsea and José Mourinho are “desperately” waiting, at least according to the media, that Fernando Torres’ former Spanish team, Atlético Madrid, to step up and make a bid for him. Although this scenario might not be impossible (particularly because Los Colchoneros have lost Diego Costa and Adrián López), it is not likely that Chelsea would receive a large amount of money for the 30-year old Spanish striker. El Niño Torres is not half the player he used to be in the past and the recent years of his already long career have been somewhat put to ridicule, whether by epic missed goals or by underachieving performances.

Torres seems to have lost his flame and let himself go down in the mud by the constant criticism he often (and fairly) receives. That young explosive and technical gifted forward from his old days at Atlético Madrid and even at Liverpool stopped existing a long time ago, and if he decides to keep pushing his experience at Chelsea, it may never come back.

This being said, at the age of 30, this might be a very good time for Fernando Torres to try to launch his career elsewhere and the hypothetical return to Vicente Calderón could help him to find that faint sparkle of talent that probably still lives inside of him.