10 Reasons Fernando Torres Failed At Chelsea

10. The Transfer Fee

Being the subject of a £50 million transfer would put a gargantuan amount of pressure on anyone, especially when they play in a position where they will be judged so directly on their productivity. Strikers are signed for goals and if goals don't come, few emerge with their reputation intact. Torres was an internationally renowned striker though, who for years had been regularly competing on the top international and European stage for Spain and Liverpool respectively. If anyone was equipped to handle that pressure, surely it was him? It's true that Torres had plenty of experience going into high-pressure situations, yet there's a big difference between the pressure of a match and enduring the full scrutiny of the media following the most expensive transfer between English clubs in history. In even the biggest match, where one player is considered the star of the show, he will still only ever represent one performance among eleven on the field that day. He may disappoint and the team go on to win regardless, or may have a sensational game yet errors by his teammates ultimately to lead to a loss. He may get a lot of attention, but there is always the mitigating factor of him needing his teammates as much as they need him. When it comes to a big money transfer, however, the media focus is entirely on the one player and how performs. In a sense, the £50 million fee isolated Torres from his new teammates from the start, with the entire story being about whether he would live up to his fee for Chelsea, not whether Chelsea's results would improve with him in the side. It was a completely different, more focused and aggressive type of pressure than Torres had ever experienced before, and as someone who never had the ego of a Cristiano Ronaldo to immediately assume he was worth the money, he suddenly not only had to prove his worth to his new team and the media, but also to himself.