Torres: Would you keep him at Chelsea?

After his best goal return for a season in a Chelsea shirt, scoring 22 goals, the future of Fernando Torres at the club remains unclear. In light of the speculation that will build right up to the beginning of next season, I want to ask YOU, the Chelsea fan reading this, no matter where in the world you are, just one question:

Would you keep Fernando Torres at Chelsea?

We all know the problems Torres has had at the club in his two previous seasons. We all know that he had to live in the shadow of Didier Drogba even if the two of them championed them playing together more often.

We know that he had struggled with fitness and looked like he had lost that extra yard of pace he once had. We know that the team struggled to supply him with the service he needed, and as a result, he dropped deeper or moved out wide and that was not where we wanted him to be.

Finally, we also know that when he did have chances he snatched at them, had little confidence and at times looked nowhere near scoring (Old Trafford away last season for example).

However, and you do have to give Rafa Benitez credit for this, Torres has had a real change of fortune towards the latter part of this season and ever since he took a whack in the face that broke his nose at Stamford Bridge on our way to winning the Europa League, he has been a different player.

Compared to his previous record, Torres had done quite well up to that point scoring goals in all competitions but, in the Premier League he still struggled although his overall contribution to the team was still really good.

That’s the thing about Torres though, isn’t it? You can see how hard he works in games, his movement is still fantastic but he never got the rub of the green until the latter part of the season. His goal in the Europa League final was the Torres of old playing off the shoulder of the last defender (which is exactly where we want to see him!) and his pace and strength to get past the last defender, hold off the challenge and round the keeper to score was good.

He finished the season with his first Premier League goal in a long time on Sunday with the winner against Everton and it shows that his instincts as a striker and finisher are back as, without hesitation, he struck the ball low into the bottom corner. If he was in the same position a couple months ago, he would have tried to take a touch first!

I can’t help but wonder if the revitalised Torres we are seeing now would feature as part of Jose Mourinho’s plans. I keep reading differing reports. One says he is and Jose believes he can get the best out of him, another says he isn’t and he wants rid of him!

I personally would love to see Torres stay at our club. I want to see him work with Mourinho to see what happens.

What do you people think? Would you keep him at Chelsea?

Carefree & KTBFFH!