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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WENGER EXPECTING TOUGH FULHAM CLASH

Arsene Wenger expects another tough match when Arsenal travel to Fulham in the Barclays Premier League today.

The Gunners head into the game fourth in the table after defeating QPR 1-0 on New Year’s Eve as Robin van Persie netted the all-important goal that propelled them up to the Champions League spots and above both Chelsea and Liverpool. Wenger now leads his side across London to Fulham and expects a difficult match by the Thames.

“I am expecting a tough game,” he said. “You can see that everybody finds a good motivation against Arsenal. Everybody organises well, stops us from playing and that will happen again at Fulham.”

He added: “Of course we have three points and will be very focused to get the win there. For us it is always a difficult game at Fulham.”

Wenger’s task was made all the more difficult by Thomas Vermaelen limping off against QPR.

The Belgium international was forced off in the 54th minute with a calf strain, leaving defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin to fill in at left-back.

Vermaelen’s injuries severely weakens Wenger’s options with Kieran Gibbs (stomach) and Andre Santos (ankle) both sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Asked whether Vermaelen’s injury heightens the need for defensive reinforcements, Wenger said: “Straight after the game I don’t know because I need to analyse it all.

“Gibbs is three weeks away but it would be stupid to lose points because we don’t have a left-back.”

The aforementioned trio all miss the match at Craven Cottage and will be joined on the sidelines by Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson and Bacary Sagna.

Chelsea target Arsenal and Tottenham stars

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas is planning an audacious £65 million double swoop on Arsenal and Tottenham stars Theo Walcott and Luka Modric.

Having been reportedly given a transfer war chest of £140 million by owner Roman Abramovich, Villas-Boas is planning to revamp his squad with young guns in a bid to secure the all important top four finish that the Blues currently find just out of reach.

The Portuguese manager will look to re-ignite interest in Tottenham midfielder Modric, a player the West London club tried hard to secure in the summer and a player who has himself stated his desire to make the move to Chelsea.

The Croatian international demanded a move away from White Hart Lane after hearing of interest from Villas-Boas but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy refused to sell the 26 year-old.

Despite Tottenham’s great start to the campaign Modric has recently been quoted as saying that a move to Chelsea is still a possibility and Chelsea will launch a fresh £35m bid for the former Dinamo Zagreb man as they seek to revive their flagging Premier League campaign.

Villas-Boas is also a big admirer of Arsenal winger Theo Walcott and the continuing efforts to get the young England man to sign a new Gunners contract have alerted Chelsea to the possibility of completing an audacious swoop.

The former Southampton man has just 18 months to run on his current contract and reportedly his £85,000 a week demands are not being met by the North London club.

Chelsea are prepared to offer £30m for the 22 year-old, who started the season with a bang but has been somewhat out of sorts over the past month leading to speculation that all is not well at the Emirates Stadium.

Villas-Boas will reportedly sanction a wage offer of as much as £120k a week, an offer far in excess of his reported demands and will hope that the Arsenal attacker may push to leave the club if his demands are not met.

The former FC Porto boss sees Walcott as an ideal signing to add more natural width to his attack and would ably help become of his policy to reverse the ageing nature of his Chelsea squad.

Chelsea saw first hand what Theo Walcott is capable of as the young wide-man tortured Villas-Boas’s side during Arsenal’s 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge back in October.

Van Persie hints at Arsenal stay

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has hinted that he might remain at the Emirates, amid speculation about where his future may lie.

The 28-year-old has 18 months left on his existing contract and is yet to come to an agreement over an extension to his stay in north London, with some reports pointing towards interest from Barcelona and Manchester City.

Now the Dutchman has claimed that his family has settled down well in London, with the former Feyenoord man having been at the club since 2004.

“We love the life in London and I enjoy watching my kids grow up here,” Van Persie told reporters.

“They grow up like the English kids with good manners and values of England.”

“The place where we live, just outside the city, is fantastic. We have everything we want.”

“The English people are so incredibly polite where I live. People are nice here. That makes life a real pleasure.”

“My children have become more English than Dutch. They have taken up the culture and values of England.”

“It makes me melt at times when I see how well my children are doing here. When Shaqueel has half-term with school, he does not want to go back to the Netherlands anymore.”

Van Persie had a stellar 2011. He scored 35 Premier League goals during the course of the calendar year, beating Thierry Henry’s Arsenal record but falling one goal short of equalling the Premier League record held by Alan Shearer.

His final goal of 2011 was against Queens Park Rangers on New Year’s Eve.

As the only goal of the match it ensured the Gunners took the three points and moved into the top four of the Premier League for the first time this season.

The Arsenal captain attributed his outstanding performances during the year to his desire to repay the fans for their support.

“It is the biggest compliment I could wish for,” Van Persie added.

“Arsenal fans are real lovers of the game.”

“They don’t miss anything in the stadium and are there for the team and the individual players.”

“I have to admit I love banners like ‘We don’t need Batman, we’ve got Robin’ and stuff like that.”

“I also love it when I run on to the pitch and I hear the entire crowd roar. What bigger compliment could I wish for as a player?”

“At Arsenal, the fans so want me to do well. And that gives me a kick. That’s what I do it for. As a thank you, I want to give them so much in return on the pitch.”

Thiago: Messi should claim top prize

Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara believe his team-mate Lionel Messi should win the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Argentina international Messi is up against Barca team-mate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for the annual FIFA award, and the 20-year-old feels the South American deserves the title.

"Leo Messi deserves the Ballon d'Or ahead of Xavi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It's a pleasure playing alongside him," the Spain international told Marca.

Thiago has made big strides under Barca coach Pep Guardiola, and is eager to progress further as a player during the next 12 months.

"In 2012 I want to continue working, learning from my peers, and continue the work of recent years," he said.

Barcelona have been drawn against Osasuna in the Copa del Rey last 16, with the first leg to take place on Wednesday, and Thiago feels his side are in the right physical condition to get a victory.

"We are alright, have no problems, and we are perfectly in order to play against Osasuna," he said.