Chelsea to swap Torres in deal with Atletico

Fernando Torres maybe the first casualty of Chelsea’s slump in form – even before manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Torres, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool on a record British transfer fee of 50 million pounds, has been a total failure at Stamford Bridge and according to news reports, is being offered as a swap to Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea will offer Torres in exchange for Atletico Madrid’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.

IANS quoted The Daily Star as reporting that the Stamford Bridge club sent representatives to every Atletico game for the past three months to keep an eye on the Colombian striker.

Torres is a reputed figure in Madrid as he captained Atletico for a number of years before his move to Liverpool.

Falcao too would be keen to reuniting with his former FC Porto boss Andre Villas Boas, currently managing Chelsea.

The Madrid striker has scored 62 goals in 72 games, including 33 in 36 outings under Villas-Boas last season.

Torres, however, has only scored five goals in 31 appearances for Chelsea.

Antonio Valencia out for 4 Weeks; What It Means for Manchester United

The toughest period for any team vying for the top prize in English football are the months of February and March.

This period is when teams struggle to retain their form, egos explode inside the dressing rooms, and titles are seemingly lost and won by teams that falter and those who remain resilient, respectively.

Unfortunately, Manchester United have suffered a great setback as one of their talismen in Antonio Valencia got injured during the Europa League game against Ajax Amsterdam.

Valencia was on the field only for a short period of time when he pulled a hamstring and was substituted soon thereafter. News is that Valencia will be sidelined for at least four weeks.

What does this mean for Manchester United? Is the loss of Antonio Valencia as big as a loss, as say losing Wayne Rooney?

In my opinion, the answer is a resounding yes.

The injury couldn’t have come at a more sign

Ibrahimovic urges Van Persie to quit Arsenal

The Gunners captain was helpless in the San Siro on Wednesday as his side was humbled 4-0 by Ibrahimovic`s Milan, effectively ending its UEFA Champions League hopes for another year.

Its chances of qualifying for the tournament again rest largely on the shoulders of the 28-goal Netherlandsinternational, who has almost single-handedly kept Arsenal afloat this season.

Sweden striker Ibrahimovic, though has told Van Persie that if he wants to win anything, he needs to leave London, just as Barcelona`s Cesc Fabregas did before the start of this season.

He told the Sun: “When you don’t win anything for years, people understand why you leave like Cesc Fabregas.

“Football is all about winning. If you don’t win you want to go. I don’t know Robin personally but I remember him fromHolland and what a talent he was – now he is complete.

“I don’t know what he is thinking but I know what I would do.

“I have made a lot of moves in my life – I take it as a challenge, an adventure.

“And I have won eight titles in eight years with different clubs in different countries.

“But if you stay in one place all your life it is easy to play football.

“You are at home, you are in the comfort zone.

“But if you move to five different places it is a real test. If you succeed that’s when you become a real champion, that’s when you get more respect.”

ARE JOSE MOURINHO TEXT MESSAGES UNDERMINING CHELSEA BOSS ANDRE VILLAS BOAS?

Yes, they are.

That’s according to Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, Andre Villas Boas’ former boss at the Portuguese club. He reckons that his old manager is struggling to impose his ideas at Stamford Bridge because senior members of the squad are still in regular contact with Jose Mourinho.

Pinto da Costa said: “He needs time to mould his team. He can’t do that as long as there are players, as I’ve heard, who exchange text messages with Mourinho.”

But he thinks Villas Boas will eventually come good. He added: “He will be successful withChelsea because his contract isn’t just for one year.

“The only thing that will topple Villas Boas is if he fails to qualify for the Champions League.”

Hedging his bets, the Porto chief also predicted that Villas Boas would become the next Inter Milan manager if Roman Abramovich does axe him.

Wenger wants perfect Henry send off as Arsenal take on AC Milan

Arsene Wenger says he’s hoping for the perfect send off for legendary striker Thierry Henry, as the club’s all-time leading scorer plays his final match of a brief loan period from MLS side New York Red Bulls.

The Gunners are in Milan to take on AC in the 1st leg of their Champions League Last 16 clash, hoping to maintain their perfect record at the ground under Wenger’s tutelage (5-1 v Inter in 2004 and 2-0 v AC in 2008).

The veteran manager is expecting an exciting tie between the two sides, as they look to take an advantage back to the Emirates in a fortnight’s time.

Man Utd unlucky with injuries, says Ferguson

Manchester United play a European match outside the Champions League for the first time since 1995 on Thursday when they meet Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League with manager Alex Ferguson convinced they are unlucky not to be challenging for the European Cup as usual.

United, who have reached the Champions League final three times in the past four seasons, failed to advance past the group stage this season after dropping vital points drawing and losing to Basel.

They now face Ajax in a round of 32 first leg game – their first at this level of European competition since they played a UEFA Cup tie against Rotor Volgograd of Russia in 1995-96 when they were beaten on away goals in the first round.

Since then they have had 16 successive seasons in the Champions League and were European champions in 1999 and 2008 as well as losing finalists in 2009 and last season.

Ferguson, talking ahead of their trip to Amsterdam, told FIFA.com that United’s early exit from the Champions League was a blip and as much down to bad luck as anything else.

“I feel we had the ability to go all the way to the final,” he said. “Luck wasn’t on our side, but I think we’ve got the ambition to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid, and I don’t feel we’re that far away from them. I’m sure we’ll show that soon.”

United, as ever, are in contention for the Premier League title again and after their 2-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday, are just two points behind rivals Manchester City with 13 matches to play.

“We’ve had our ups and downs and we’ve been unlucky with injuries,” Ferguson added. “We’ve had a lot of them, which you don’t expect, and we’ve got people like Nemanja Vidic and Darren Fletcher out for the whole season.

“You can replace your best players for a game or two, but you really notice the difference over a longer period, and that’s what’s happened to us.

“Even so, we’re fighting hard to win the premiership again and there’s a lot of merit in that. Obviously I’m optimistic about our chances.”

One man who has escaped injury this season, as he has largely done since first breaking into the side in 1991, is 38-year-old Ryan Giggs, who has made more appearances for United than anyone and will reach another milestone if he plays on Thursday.

It would be his 900th match for the club and he shows no signs of slowing down after announcing he is signing a new contract taking him till the end of next season.

Giggs has been on the United playing staff so long, he was around when they met Torpedo Moscow in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 1992-93, United losing on penalties after both legs ended goalless. Both he and Paul Scholes, also played against Volgograd 16 seasons ago.

Elite soccer today bears little resemblance now but Giggs says he is determined not to make the same mistake as team mate Scholes by retiring too early. Scholes is back in the team after coming out of retirement last month.

“When to retire is difficult. Do you quit too early or go that one too many games and let people see you on the slide? Retirement is just a decision that I have to take my time with because I feel different after each game,” Giggs told the Daily Telegraph.

“He (Scholes) was missing it and it’s no secret that me, Gary (Neville) and a few other people felt that he had finshed too early, but who were we to know?

“We wanted him to carry on but he’d made his decision quite early and it was probably too early, which I think he accepts now. Who knows? Maybe he’ll carry on next year.”

Giggs says his career was extended by the switch from playing on the left wing into the centre of midfield over the last few seasons.

“Moving in to central midfield has definitely helped me,” he said. “I had a taste of what it was like on the wing against Liverpool on Saturday and it’s just completely different because you are up and down all the time.”

Although United and Ajax, who have also dropped into the Europa League, are among the elite European clubs lifting the European Cup seven times between them, they have met only twice before.

Those meetings came in a UEFA Cup first round tie in 1975-76 which United won 2-1 on aggregate after Ajax had won 1-0 in Amsterdam with a Ruud Krol goal. United won 2-0 at Old Trafford with Lou Macari and Sammy McIlroy scoring.

Arsenal expect Wilshere to return next month

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed midfielder Jack Wilshere could finally return to action “within a month”, according to reports in the British press.

A February return had been pencilled in, only for the 20-year-old to suffer a stress fracture in his right foot as he continued his rehabilitation.

Wenger has revealed Wilshere’s recovery is going well and the midfielder could be back within a month if all goes to plan.
Very positive

“Jack can be back within a month if all goes well,” said Wenger.

“The recovery of his latest problems looks very good. The latest scan was very positive.

“We go cautiously step-by-step because we tried to push him back quicker in the first instance and he had a setback. So this time we have to be cautious and not go too quick.

“He can be back before then end of the season, of course.”England midfielder Jack Wilshere is expected to return to action within the next six weeks.

Arsenal feel Wilshere is making better than expected progress after a second and smaller stress fracture in his foot, according to the Daily Mirror.

Wilshere aims to return in time to prove his fitness for England’s Euro 2012 squad, and wants to be back within the next six weeks.

A stress fracture to the midfielder’s heel came to light after returning to training following surgery on a foot injury.

But Wilshere is making such good progress that his scan has been brought forward to this week, and he has his fingers crossed he’ll get the all-clear from specialists.

However, other reports suggested the 20-year-old is taking a cautious approach to his rehabilitation to ensure he does not breakdown again.

Wilshere has not featured in Arsenal’s campaign since picking up the injury during a pre-season tour of the Far East.

Meanwhile, Per Mertesacker is facing a lengthy lay-off with Arsenal already facing a potential fixture nightmare.

The German centre-half damaged ankle ligaments against Sunderland on Saturday and has flown to Munich for treatment following an MRI scan, according to the Daily Mirror.

Mertesacker, who is expected to be out for several weeks, will see the German national team’s doctors as he will miss their friendly against France at the end of the month.

But it gives Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger a headache not just for Wednesday night’s Champions League trip to AC Milan, but for the Gunners’ return to Sunderland at the weekend for an FA Cup fifth round tie.

Wenger may have to rest and rotate for the Cup match – especially as any replay will be scheduled to take place just three days later.

The police and FA have ordered any required replay to happen next Tuesday, as the subsequent midweek is taken up with international fixtures and Arsenal face Milan at the Emirates the following midweek.

That leaves Wenger concerned his players could be left burnt out by the fixture congestion after a difficult and gruelling trip to Milan and may leave him facing the prospect of resting players on Saturday if they are jaded.

Wenger is desperate to win silverware this season, but dealing with Milan and finishing fourth are higher on his agenda than the FA Cup.

Arsenal are set to use Kieran Gibbs at left-back in Milan, with Thomas Vermaelen reverting to central defence.

Mertesacker is hoping to be back for the home leg against Milan on March 6.