Fernando
Torres has ended three-and-a-half disappointing years at Chelsea by
completing a move to AC Milan. The Spaniard replaces Mario Balotelli as
Milan’s lead striker following his £16million transfer to Liverpool.
Torres’ agent held talks on Thursday and the striker has agreed to join
the Italian giants.
Torres has endured a difficult time with the
Blues since his then-British record £50 million move from Liverpool in
January 2011.
The 30-year old Spain international was unable to
repeat his prolific Liverpool form in west London and has scored just 45
goals in 172 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea.
He was
believed to be Blues boss Jose Mourinho’s third-choice striker behind
new signings Diego Costa and Didier Drogba this season, and that drop
down the pecking order — he had yet to make it onto the pitch this
season — persuaded him to consider Milan’s offer.
“Chelsea Football
Club and AC Milan have agreed terms for the two-year loan deal of
Fernando Torres to the Italian club,” a statement on Chelsea’s website
announced.
“The move is now subject to Fernando agreeing personal terms with AC Milan and passing a medical examination.”
Milan made their move for the former Atletico Madrid star after selling Mario Balotelli to Liverpool earlier this week.
Assuming
Torres completes the move, he will surely go down as one of the biggest
flops in Premier League history, given the size of both his reputation
and the transfer and wages required to lure him from Anfield.
His
memorable moments for Chelsea — scoring a key goal in the 2012
Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona and finally breaking his
duck for the club against West Ham after 14 appearances — were few and
far between.
Instead, he will be remembered for lacklustre
displays and a litany of shocking misses, including somehow blazing over
an open goal in a defeat at Manchester United in 2011.
Only the
likes of Andy Carroll, a £35 million failure at Liverpool, and Andriy
Shevchenko, a £30 million misfit at Chelsea, have fared as badly as
Torres in the Premier League era.
Torres has two years remaining
on his £150,000-a-week Chelsea contract, meaning he is unlikely to play
for the Blues again because he would be a free agent by the time his
spell at the San Siro is over.
His move to Italy will bring the
curtain down on a disastrous stint with Chelsea, in which he was a
bit-part player as the club won the Champions League, the Europa League
and the FA Cup.
Torres was a shadow of the player who terrorised
defences across Europe in a Liverpool shirt and the raw statistics tell
the full story of his Chelsea nightmare.
He averaged one goal every
3.8 matches for the Blues, compared to one every 1.8 matches in his four
years with Liverpool, while each goal effectively cost Chelsea £1.1
million.
Just hours earlier on Friday, Mourinho had claimed
Chelsea couldn’t afford to lose Torres because it would leave them short
of options in the attacking department.
His apparent change of
heart means Torres will need to be replaced, with a move for Roma’s
Italian striker Mattia Destro a possibility before the transfer window
closes on Monday.
Mourinho did admit he could understand if
Torres, dropped by Spain for their forthcoming matches against France
and Macedonia, wanted to leave given the criticism he has suffered at
Chelsea.
“If he wants to leave, in the case he wants to, it’s
because he wants to try a new life, a new club, probably a new league,”
Mourinho said.
“So if he wants to leave, which until this moment I
have not one single word about, I believe that is to try to be happier
than he was in the last couple of years.
“This is a very human club in the way the club approaches this kind of situation.
“If
he comes to us in these last couple of days, any possibility would be
analysed by us as a club and the best decision for him.”
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