Fernando Torres: 3 Reasons Why Striker Will Not Go to FC Barcelona

The rumor about Fernando Torres leaving Chelsea for FC Barcelona was popular during New Year’s Eve. The rumors were started by the Spanish Magazine El Mundo Deportivo and published in Sporting Alert.

According to the magazine, Andres Villas-Boas of Chelsea is willing to discuss with Pep Guardiola an exchange between Torres and three players from Barca (Sergi Roberto, Isaac Cuenca and Martin Montoya). The reason is to substitute David Villa while he is recovering from his lower-extremity fracture.

The idea of Torres at Barca deserved a second opinion, which was discovered in a B/Rarticle written by Anurag Bhatt. The result is the three reasons Torres will not go to FC Barcelona.

Financial

FC Barcelona is not going to waste precious money on bringing Fernando Torres if he did not score at Chelsea. The review of articles by Mr. Bhatt and theunderwriter explains the financial reasons that debunk the rumor.

Javier Faus, who is the FC Barcelona economic affairs vice president, approved a transfer budget for the 2011-12 season which would not go over $59 million. The previous two seasons for FC Barcelona resulted in a net loss of $137 million.

FC Barcelona spent an equivalent amount of money corresponding to the transfer budget for Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas. The personal opinion is that the exchange between Torres and the three players from Barca will not help the budget.

The transfer does not assure that Torres will perform better than when he was with Chelsea.

Torres’ Record At Chelsea

Fernando Torres transferred from Liverpool to Chelsea for the unheard-of-price of$79.5 million. The purpose was for Torres to score goals for Chelsea.

Torres has scored five goals for Chelsea (Premier League and UEFA Champions League) within one year. There have been other athletes who have scored more within their first year than Torres.

He even missed an opportunity to score during Chelsea’s match against Manchester United in Sept. 2011. Torres was unable to find the back of the goal net in order to score.

Does FC Barcelona want a striker with that problem? The answer is no.

Negative Comments About Team and Teammates

The cardinal rule of sports is to never make negative comments about past and current teams, including teammates. Torres violated that rule during an interview with theSpanish Primera Liga website.

During the interview, Torres referred to his teammates as “older” and “very slow.” The result was that Andres Villas-Boas demanded an explanation from Torres.

Torres replied that the interview was lost in translation. In a separate interview with Chelsea TV, Torres talked about signing with Chelsea in order to “play on a top-level club.”

The supporters of the Liverpool FC were not pleased with the comments. Whether Torres was aware (or not) of the comments, they were negative.

FC Barcelona does not need a person who would make comments of that nature.

The idea of Fernando Torres going to FC Barcelona will not materialize unless there is a miracle.

Barca, Real bid to set up Copa Clasicos

Real Madrid and Barcelona can set the stage for another pair of ”clasicos” by beating Malaga and Osasuna when Spanish football returns from its annual winter break this week with the Copa del Rey’s round of 16.

Madrid and Barcelona both play their first leg at home, and big victories there would all but end their opponents’ hopes of pulling off an upset in the return match.

 

Strong results for the Spanish giants would also set up another likely matchup between them later this month, as the winners will meet in the two-legged quarterfinals of the cup competition.

Malaga hasn’t beaten Madrid since its return to regular first division football in 1999, while Osasuna will face a Barcelona side that has won its last five matches at the Camp Nou by a combined score of 26-0.

Malaga’s ambitious owners have gone on a spending spree lately to buy players in a bid to see the Andalucian club compete at the top of the table, but Madrid has won the last three meetings between the sides by a combined score of 15-1.

”In my mind they are the second best team in the world, behind Barcelona, they’ve shown it day-in, day-out,” Malaga forward Santi Cazorla said ahead of Tuesday’s match. ”Hopefully we can manage a positive result so we have a chance in the return.”

Madrid, which beat Barcelona in last year’s final, will likely be without injured players Angel di Maria, Sergio Ramos and Ricardo Carvalho, while Malaga remains without Brazilian striker Julio Baptista. In-form winger Jose Callejon is expected to fill in for Di Maria, while either Raul Albiol or Rafael Varane can replace Ramos if the Spain international doesn’t recover from a leg injury in time to play at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

”Di Maria’s absence will affect them some,” Cazorla said. ”But whoever plays, it’s going to be a complicated match.”

Barcelona, meanwhile, has 12 wins and two draws in 14 games at the Camp Nou this season, where it has outscored opponents 59-4. It already beat Osasuna 8-0 on home soil this season.

Chile forward Alexis Sanchez could return from injury, while defenders Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal’s forms are questionable in the buildup to Wednesday’s game. Lionel Messi’s availability is also questionable as the Argentine forward did not train with the team on Monday after just returning from a winter holiday.

Osasuna is in good form and has climbed to a surprising fifth place in the league after going unbeaten in its last seven games, a streak that includes four wins.

”Every game is different,” Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara said. ”They can change their tactics from then since they now know us a little more. I don’t know how the game will play out.”

Valencia faces Sevilla on Thursday in perhaps the most even matchup of this round, while all four remaining lower-tier clubs host their first-leg matches against topflight clubs.

Second-tier Alcorcon, which knocked Madrid out of the competition in 2009 and beat Villarreal this time around, plays early-season surprise Levante, with the winner of that series going on to play either Valencia or Sevilla. Madrid and Barcelona are also on that side of the draw, leaving the eight teams on the other half with a golden chance of reaching the final.

Third-tier Albacete, which eliminated Atletico Madrid, on Tuesday welcomes 23-time champion Athletic Bilbao, which is without injured striker Fernando Llorente, while third-tier Mirandes welcomes struggling topflight team Racing Santander. Espanyol is at second-division Cordoba on Thursday, while Real Sociedad faces Mallorca on Wednesday.

Will Wolves be a bad moment for Chelsea?

That’s according to Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas, who finds himself treading in the very footsteps that saw predecessor Carlo Ancelotti march towards unemployment last season.

The Blues’ recent results look remarkably similar to those which undermined Ancelotti’s position at the club 12 months back. Both managers have suffered a crushing defeat to Arsenal; a 1-1 draw at Tottenham; and the haphazard defending which resulted in shipping three goals at home to Aston Villa. Though Ancelotti’s side emerged from that New Year game against Villa with a draw, as opposed to Villas-Boas’ defeat.

Now, as last year, a Chelsea boss under immense pressure and scrutiny makes an early-January trip to Molineux for a game that really could be make or break.

Villas-Boas is certain he can lift his team.

“That’s the easy part,” he said. “It’s a game within 48 hours (of the last one) and we don’t have to wait for another opportunity to prove that we can put things back on the right track. Psychologically it’s a plus.”

Last season at Wolves, Ancelotti’s Chelsea lost 1-0 thanks to a Jose Bosingwa own goal – the very nadir of the Italian coach’s so-called ‘bad moment’. From then onwards, he was seen by many as a dead man walking – despite winning the FA Cup and Premier League double the previous season.

Meanwhile Villas-Boas, yet to prove himself at Chelsea, is already in the position of having to write-off trophies.

He said: “The December fixtures were always going to be difficult for everybody. They are proving difficult for all the top clubs and we haven’t made the most of the opportunities.

“If we had continued to be competent from what we did against Man City we would maybe be challenging for the League. You can say we might have lost it in December.”

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