Fernando Torres: 5 Reasons He Will Succeed Under Villa-Boas

During the 2011 winter transfer window, Fernando Torres was brought to Chelsea for a £50 million fee. This made him the most expensive transfer in British football history, and his subsequent performance made him one of the worst.

It is widely assumed that the Spaniard was the purchase of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Torres' purpose was singular: help the owner's obsessive quest for European glory.

As we all know now, that did not happen. Torres' time at Stamford Bridge thus far has been inconsequential, even debilitating on the field.

The predicament manager Carlo Ancelotti had, of whether to play the leagues most expensive player or sit him and have a better chance at winning, proved too much for him to overcome. He was sacked days after the season ended.

Now with Andres Villa-Boas at the helm, Torres will look to finally pay off his bill, and there is no reason he should not.

The beautiful thing about sports is you will get another chance. Torres will be glad to that opportunity as this year looks much more promising for him. Here are five reasons why.

Abarmovich's Golden Boy

As of right now, he is the most expensive player on the Chelsea squad. Having that distinction also makes him Roman Abramovich's "Golden Boy."

The Russian billionaire is an incredibly successful business man, and he didn't get there through poor decisions. He has made hundreds of millions in investments in hundred of companies and continues to make money.

His ego has made him a persistent competitor in the financial market. It will not allow him to admit failure and instead rearrange things to make sure that that investment works.

Torres is one of those investments.

I don't know Abramovich, but he seems to be the type of guy who took the failure of Torres last season personally. The success and failure of the Chelsea club reflects on his own image, and he refuses to allow that image to be tainted by poor results of his biggest investments.

So instead of cutting his losses and allowing Ancelotti to coach, Abramovich insisted that Torres play, so he can turn it around and thus make the Russian look like he made another good investment.

With Villa-Boas being such a young coach, we shouldn't expect him to rock the boat too much when he first arrives. Results are not enough at Chelsea to keep a job. He must massage Abramovich's ego, and to do this, Torres will get more playing time.

The more time the striker has on the field, the more opportunity he has to live up to his potential.

A New Team Equals Fresh Start

OK, so maybe it's a little bit ridiculous to say that Chelsea's season was a disaster. But that doesn't seem to stop the critics and front office.

By getting rid of a coach like Ancelotti (who was successful, I don't care what anyone says), they established the fact that nothing but near perfection will be accepted.

A new coach means new tactics, attitude and atmosphere. Villa-Boas thus far has preached about the importance of team unity. You can imagine the atmosphere around Stamford Bridge will be somewhat more relaxed than it has in the past.

What a philosophy like this also implies is that they will win as a team and lose as a team. No longer will Torres foot the blame, and if the media does begin to do that, Villa-Boas will step in and deny that. If the unity is really there, then the players will feel an obligation to do the same.

I'm not saying that Chelsea was a hotbed of egos, pointing fingers at everyone else when they lost but simply that an ideology built on team unity encourages an openness that had not been seen before.

Chelsea won their first four games of last season scoring a total of 21 goals. This "Playstation football," as Ancelotti called it, was a combined team effort. Those 21 goals were scored by eight different players. Unselfish play saw them off to one of the best starts in EPL history.

By Torres' third or fourth goalless game, the fans were beginning to get restless and wanted some results. The longer it went on, the harder it got, especially as Chelsea continued to falter.

But with a new season the potential is endless. Torres doesn't need to get on the score sheet every game (though it would be nice), but if he can help Chelsea off to the start they had last year, he will become an instant fan favorite.

Villa-Boas' philosophy should help that along nicely.

Villa-Boas' Tactics Suit Him

The side Villa-Boas coached at FC Porto was a high up attacking squad. They would usually play with three forwards on the forwards on the field and in an aggressive 4-3-3 formation.

He encouraged movement and a free-flowing style to the play. The pace was high, and they usually won by outgunning their opponent by two or three goals.

Ancelotti did not quite have the same ideas. Though he really was not a "defensive" coach, he definitely leaned toward it and organized style, where the midfield was key to victory.

Torres will prefer the new tactics to last season's. Being such an aggressive forward, he really relies on the ball being high up on the pitch. If it is being knocked around midfield he is not really able to do what he does best, making well-timed, cutting runs.

Didier Drogba has the ability to drop back into the midfield and play as a deep forward, providing support and an outlet to move the attack up. Torres has never been a target forward like that and was not use to playing with a defender on his back.

Playing for Spain, Torres will be much more comfortable if he spends a majority of the game as high as he wants. The midfield will look to get the ball quickly up the the wingers and then join the attack themselves. This will give Torres the freedom to do as he pleases off the ball.

He can then only worry about making good runs behind the line and most importantly scoring goals.

The New No. 1?

Yesterday it was reported that apparently AC Milan was going to treat Chelsea like their corner deli store. They apparently have expressed serious interest in buying Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou.

Though unlikely all three will be leaving West London, it is safe to assume that one or two will. Their departure will not be due to lack of performance but rather to make new room for the transfers coming in.

Links to Porto striker Radamel Falcao have been picking up a lot of press, as well as to the Brazilian youngster Neymar.

Should this all occur, Torres, with only half a season and one goal under his belt, will become the most experienced forward at Chelsea.

Last year, Torres was thrown into a forward line that had essentially been together for two-and-a-half years unchanged. Florent Malouda, Drogba and Anelka all had a very good relationship with one another, and it showed on the field.

To no fault of his own, Torres upset the balance of this by being the new guy in town. Also, the fact that we would come to learn that Drogba was recovering from malaria begged the question whether Torres' spot was permanent or was he just filling in for the sick Ivorian.

All these questions will be gone next season. With Torres becoming the prime target and with no one on the bench that fans and critics can point at to replace him, he can finally relax and play his game. He won't need to walk into the clubhouse the morning of a game and wonder if his name will be on the starter's sheet or the sub's.

And if he is a starter, knowing that his performance will not be judged against one of the most dominating strikers of the last decade will release some tension giving him the most chance for success.

He IS Good

In 320 games for three club teams, Torres has scored 148 goals. Starting at age 15, he has played in 115 games for his country (including 85 at the senior level) and scored 49 goals (27 at the senior level). What does this all add up to?

A very good striker.

The recent slump that he has experienced is just that. This is not normal for him to be this dry in the goal category for this long. At one point, he had gone 903 minutes without scoring a goal. That kind of number is remarkable for most good midfielders.

The thing about good athletes is they are hard workers. As much as we like to look at them as whiny divas, they only got to where they are by having a mentality of refusing to lose.

Torres is not a mouthpiece and rarely (if ever) has said anything controversial or brought negative attention to himself. He keeps quiet and plays hard. You could see it in his eyes last year that he was more disappointed in his lack of form than anyone.

He doesn't like to let down the team, the fans or himself and should work hard this summer to get back to where he was.

The failure to convert chances like he did last year will not happen again. He may not be his most prolific player at Chelsea next season, but he will find a way to turn his performance around.

What are some reasons you think Torres will succeed or fail under the Portuguese manager?