Now in his fourth campaign at Stamford Bridge, the Spaniard has failed to replicate the form that once saw him revered as one of Europe’s finest strikers and led many to question the astronomical £50m lavished on him in January 2011.
After seeing the 30-year-old left out of the starting line-up for Chelsea’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-German, former Liverpool star Danny Murphy commented that Torres will never be the player he once was, but talkSPORT decided to see how much of flop he has been by comparing the striker with that other mega-money disappointment, Andriy Shevchenko.
Shevchenko cost Chelsea a mere £30m in the summer of 2006, playing just two seasons before eventually leaving the club.
While Torres cost significantly more, he has been better value for money than the Ukrainian, but only slightly.
Torres gets a lot of stick from Chelsea fans, but unlike Shevchenko he has enjoyed a couple of memorable moments, scoring a brilliant and vital goal in the Europa League final success against Benfica in 2013, as well as grabbing a memorable winner against Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League a year earlier. OK, Chelsea would have gone through without Torres' clinching, but it did give Gary Neville the opportunity to have his infamous ‘scoregasm’ on Sky.
Below is a breakdown of the two costly strikers' Stamford Bridge careers.
Fernando Torres – Liverpool to Chelsea – £50m in 2011
105 Premier League appearances / 19 goals
13 FA Cup appearances / Three goals
Six League Cup appearances / Three goals
37 European appearances / 16 goals
Three other appearances / Two goals
Cost per Premier League goal – £2,631,579
Cost per goal overall – £1,162,791
Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan to Chelsea – £30m in 2006
48 Premier League appearances / Nine goals
Seven FA Cup appearances / Three goals
15 European appearances / Four goals
Seven other appearances / Six goals
Cost per Premier League goal – £3,333,333
Cost per goal overall – £1,363,636
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