CAN YOU HEAR THE DOLDRUMS FERNANDO.

There is a lot of Transfer speculation swirling around as another English Premier League season draws to a close. The questions on everyone's lips is Will Gareth Bale stay at Spurs? Will Mourinho return to Chelsea? and so forth. Amidst all these speculative questions is one almost certainty, who will Chelsea poach over the Summer as there new striker. In January 2011 Fernando Torres was seemingly the purchase of the year for The Blues. Having shown impressive form with both Liverpool and the Spanish national team, it looked as though Torres would take the mantle from Didier Drogba as Chelsea's main striker. Nearly 2 and a half years later, the form that has alluded the 29 year old Spaniard since his transfer is still there. Although Torres scored crucial goals in both the 2012 UEFA Champions League Semi Final and the EURO 2012 Final, his domestic goalscoring record is woeful. Personally I would love nothing more than to see Torres don the Blue Jersey for another season with Chelsea, although as the season draws to a close this looks unlikely. Summer is traditionally the time when European Clubs go shopping for big name players, and as Chelsea have been out of the Top 4 since season's end of 2010-11, this would be high time for a reshuffle.

American Digital Sports media outlet "The Bleacher Report" ran an article of 5 potential strikers who could replace the Spaniard next season. The list includes Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski, Zenit St.Petersburg's Hulk, Athletico Madrid's star man Radamel Falcao, Napoli's Edinson Cavani and West Bromwich Albion's main man Romelu Lukaku. In an age where Clubs are quick to fire there managers or sell off there players, the pressure to maintain good form has become increasingly difficult for the Modern day Footballer. I hope for Torres' sake, Chelsea stand by there man (No Tammy Wynette reference intended) and look at things in the grand scheme of things. This is a player who has won nearly every major tournament there is to win, A European Championship, A World Cup and a European Champions League final. He's the type of player who, when the chips are down, he'll score that crucial goal. This is evident from his performance in the Euro 2008 Final, The 2012 UEFA Champions League Final and Euro 2012. It's also worth mentioning that, in the last 8 years, Chelsea have been through more managers than any other European Club. So as the season's draw to a close across Europe and the Bank Cheques come out, will Torres make the cut or be cut? Only time will tell.


Written by Alex Stilianos.