Will Torres ever get back to the player he was?

The decision of whether to play Fernando Torres was the big talking point leading up to Chelsea's Champions' League quarter final second leg against Manchester United.

In theory, the decision to play a recently bought £50 million striker should be a no-brainer; but this isn't any case of a £50 million striker.

To say the Spaniard, once rated by many as one of the world's best strikers, has been a flop thus far at Chelsea is a gross understatement. He was signed in January to save Chelsea's faltering title challenge and, consequently, has failed miserably.


The stage was set in his Chelsea debut against former club Liverpool, where he had struggled this season, to prove the doubters wrong. He fluffed his lines. As he has continued to do ever since. Up until last week, he had failed to even hit the target with a shot.

This run does not look like ending despite the claim from one caller on TalkSport today that "Every game he goes without scoring, he's a game closer to that first goal". Difficult to argue with that logic, but the man is horrifically out of sorts. He lacks the explosive pace he has become known for and his body language suggests that of a man who does not believe in his ability to make an impact for his team. He almost looks disinterested at times.

Why is this so surprising? He'd hardly been tearing up any trees for the preceding year, partly to do with fitness problems and later with just plain old bad performances, but it is the Torres of before 2010/11 that Chelsea desperately hope they have bought.

During his time on Merseyside he racked up an impressive 65 league goals in 102 appearances, at a rate of a goal every 120 minutes. A record comparible with any of the league's top strikers.

That's why his fall from grace has been such a shock, but his poor Chelsea form is merely a continuation of a year's bad form. Since his injury problems in early 2010, three different managers (Liverpool's Roy Hodgson, Spain's Vicente del Bosque and Chelsea's Carlo Ancelotti) have shown faith in him to no avail.

The difficulty with the decision to pick Torres for Chelsea now comes in the consequences that would come with it. Drop him and you have a player even lower in confidence but you have Drogba in the team from who you know what to expect. Play him and it's a player horribly out of form and it's a gamble as to whether he'll be up to standard. Whilst he continues to struggle it is undoubtedly hurting the team and one has to wonder how long Ancelotti can keep the faith.

Chelsea's trophy hunt this season is now over, perhaps they should look to next season to get the best out of Torres. He is just 27, he should be in his prime, if next season brings no improvement, then it's time to worry.