Chelsea Transfer Rumors: Fernando Torres' Struggle and How the Fans Can Help

With 10 days to go in the January transfer window, Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has been surprisingly quiet. Not in the sense that he has not been running his mouth spreading senseless rumors, we know from his first window in charge here that that is not his style (thankfully), but in the sense that he does not seem intrigued by any of the names being floated around the club either those for purchase or those to be sold.

Then we have the former boss. One of the most accomplished the club has ever had, bringing them their only double and barring an onslaught of untimely and devastating injuries, probably a repeat league winner. He has been doing nothing, but running his mouth in the most manipulative of ways, suggesting that the Spanish dud who they could not get the most out of would be better off if he didn’t have the immense shadow of an Ivorian elephant over him.

A simple suggestion by good ol’ Carlo? I think not. More of a carefully calculated equation that goes like this:

Aging superstar talent + Rich Arab dude – Coach who is changing styles x lots of money = A very happy Italian

To this day I contend that Ancelotti was a misguided and ill-advised sacking by an owner whose own personal egotisms extend well beyond European glory and more attune to a primitive desire of superiority in context over accomplishments. A fear of not being the biggest name if football, to the point where he is pulling a Tony Montana on the steps of his own palatial estate in Miami.

But Ancelotti is gone and it is something I must get over. But what still plagues me is the inquisition into the relationship between Torres and Drogba. Ancelotti was quoted as saying:

"What I would say is that training Chelsea, when the club is in the middle of a major generational change, is complicated.

Take Torres and the crisis he has lived through there. I now know that if you decide to invest strongly in him, you have to sell Drogba.

Didier is like Filippo Inzaghi was at AC Milan—he simply devours any competition.

It is not that he is evil. Nor was Inzaghi. It is just the way they both are.”

And in most cases he is right. Drogba does devour his competition just as much as his opponents. Not through some kind of mind play where he is an anti-teammate, but rather by simply being good at what he does.

Drogba, like Inzaghi, have done two things throughout their career. The first is score goals. As a striker this is all you are asked to do. Just look at Inzaghi, outside of Milan he is best known for being the only player that puts more energy into his celebrations than most of the goals he taps in or get deflected off his thigh. Even into his late 30s he is still finding goals (four in nine appearances last season).

But more importantly, what both of them do that make them indispensable is more reflective on the club then their own personal accomplishments. They simply win trophies. Between the two of them, they have won over a dozen major titles in a span of years that is almost a decade in length. They have been a pillar of their clubs for longer than the band-wagoners in America (myself included) have followed them.

So this force that Torres is being devoured by is not the shape of a 6’2” broad-shouldered African. It is the amorphous conglomeration of every trophy, accomplishment, fan, teammate and source of pride this club has ever had in its greatness.

There is no escaping this overwhelming force. There is no out playing it. There is no change Villas-Boas can make that will free the struggling Spaniard from its grips. This is something that few players in Chelsea’s past have failed to realize. Andriy Schevchenko comes to mind as someone who was bolstered by Abramovic to super cede the casting of the past and make his own mark.

But what Abramovic fails to realize is that just because he has financed the Chelsea history, does not mean it is his to mold.

Every name he brings into the club, every manager hired, every trophy won, every fan gained, every single thing that happens adds to that history and that shadow that looms over Torres. Why do you think the addition of Mata has seemed to only put more pressure on Torres to perform? Because Mata adds to the shadow. Why was the hiring of Villas-Boas make things only more contentious? It adds to the shadow. Why does Drogba scoring goals and the team winning with him in the lineup make Torres look even smaller? Well, you get it.

What is really at play here is the fact that Torres will face the same fate of the last incompetent and hugely overpriced striker the club bought if he continues and if we continue to always see him in relation to that shadow. We are forcing him to turn around and look it in the face and say “see, you have to be that.”

We are wrong. We as fans need to stop asking Torres to be that and tell him to do what Anelka, Malouda, Essien, Cole, Robben, Ballack, Sturridge, Ramires and Mata all did—join the shadow. Find a nice place amongst a history that includes more trophies than he can ever imagine winning. Bring his own accolades along to add to it to make it even more prestigious. There hasn’t been a World Cup in there yet.

Drogba told France Football magazine that he has no intentions of going anywhere: "I would like to find again more fun, shivers, fervour, pressure and passion on the pitch. That makes fun in our job and I have missed a little for the last months. Does it mean departure from Chelsea? Not before next June."

Ignore all the talk about denying contract extensions and for the most part everything he said to the magazine. These are business tactics that allow the lucky privileged with skill sets most of us don’t have to turn down first offers and choose where they want to work.

But the real issue to be raised here is that the departure of Drogba means nothing for the improvement of Torres. Yes the Ivorian who will be regarded as the single most successive striker in the clubs history will physically no longer be here, opening room for Torres to play, but his mark on that shadow will still impose its will as strong as ever.

 Torres’ battle is not against his fellow teammate. It is an internal struggle to satisfy the needs of the fans against the undertones of a history that was present long before he arrived and will endure far after he is gone.

Villas-Boas recently responded to Ancelotti’s comments:

"I respect Carlo's opinion but, for me, it is not the case.

"It has not even crossed my mind to sell Didier in this transfer window. I still rely on him for what he represents as a player and icon.

"We are speaking about two of the best players in the world and it would be unfair to conclude that Didier is inflicting his personality on Fernando. If that was the case it would be a mental weakness or a mental block.

"That is not the situation here.

"In a club our size you always have to compete against the best.

"It's the same with Barcelona and Real Madrid. The people you compete with are as good or better than you and you have to show you should be in the starting XI."

Or in a part of the history.

Perhaps never as the Chelsea manager has he spoken truer words.