Fernando Torres

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

First of all, let me make it clear; I don't advocate signing Torres or any pure number nine as a Plan B. With that being said... You guys really haven't watched him at all this season, at least based on the comments you're making. He's been isolated in the 4-2-3-1 Chelsea use, where despite Chelsea's strength on paper in midfield they have, for entire games, struggled to get him the ball, resulting in him being rendered completely useless. His touch isn't exactly sharp 100% of the time (and he does have those pure moments as Galning pointed out) but the way you guys are talking about him it's like we're speaking about Ryan Shawcross. He hasn't horrendously missed too many chances this season (certainly not as many as Alexis), is still good in the air, links up well (especially with Spaniards), and has overall been beneficial to Chelsea. If we did have to sign a number 9 as a Plan B, Torres would be my first pick in the balance between affordability and effectiveness.

+10

Couldn't agree with this more. I honestly don't even think we need a Plan B as the False 9 system works as long as there is movement from the wingers but if Tito feels like we need one, I think Torres is probably the most frugal option for what we need. Any better striker we got would demand a starting spot, and we don't need that. Torres, I'm sure, would accept a bit role just to get out of London.

We honestly don't need Torres, especially if Villa and Sanchez stay. Rather us push for a solid CB right now than Torres...

 

[PaulFCB]

We honestly don't need Torres, especially if Villa and Sanchez stay. Rather us push for a solid CB right now than Torres...

If Villa stays, automatically Torres won't come.
If they want a Plan B player, playing 20m + a big salary isn't worth for a player like Torres, we're doing Chelsea's mistake, who payed a huge sum for him when he was already starting to look out of form. Now we want to pay 20 for a player clearly out of form for years.

He hasn't horrendously missed too many chances this season (certainly not as many as Alexis), is still good in the air, links up well (especially with Spaniards), and has overall been beneficial to Chelsea.

I saw him miss many chances like he treated them not seriously enough, he seems anemic and he's only ace in games like the ones in the Europa League was that the opponents were concentrated a lot on players like Hazard or Mata, he was left with chances and scored a few, but that's meh, we're not interested in winning the Europa League just as we are not interested in winning Segunda Division, we're not gonna win the CL defeating Slavia Prague or Rubin Kazan in the spring, that's for sure. If he was a player 8 years younger at least he had space for progress but meh, he's just compromised now.

 

[Richard.H]

I wouldn't buy him even for 10 mill. He's a headcase, has HORRIBLE confidence, misses more sitters than Alexis, and overall is just useless.

 

[DavidVillano1]

I for one really am not against this move at all, I've always liked Torres, I think he just made a poor career decision by leaving to go to Chelsea bc their style of play was never suited to him as a player.

Not sure why we are hearing about this first tho over locking down a CB, that makes no sense whatsoever.

To those saying Villa>Torres, he is younger, a bit quicker and taller than Villa. He honestly wouldn't be a bad "Plan B" striker that soooooooo many people on this board have been clammering on and on about how bad we need one. He has the technique to fit into our style and as long as he realizes that he won't start every game but will get decent minutes, I don't think its a bad move.

If this happens tho, Villa and/or Sanchez is definitely gone, most likely the former of the two.

Torres was already on the decline before he went to Chelsea, people seem to be forgetting this. In his last season for Liverpool he wasn't playing great. He never had a good WC before that season either.

Villa is still much better than Torres, Torres might be slightly more quicker and taller but that doesn't come into play much when playing out wide at Barcelona. Villa is more intelligent, better with the ball at his feet, and has better vision and passing.

He would be a terrible signing especially for the price and wages he would command. I'd argue it would be up there with the Zlatan/Eto'o deal as being so poor, which I claimed before that occurred would fail miserably.

Has anyone watched how good he was in Europa league this season?

In particular, he has strength to hold up the ball and beat defenders with his strength and he's a beast in the air.

Again, we should be spending money now on a CB rather than him now but I certainly wouldn't mind having Torres as a Plan B. He could easily revive his confidence in front of goal when you have service fr players like Xavi, Imiesta, Messi and Dani.

Him and Martinez and I think we are good.

I'm wondering if you watched Chelsea. Torres is not a beast in the air!

Secondly he's not great at holding up the ball, your basing his strength on one goal in the EL final. He gets bullied off the ball consistently.

How can you say he would easily revive his confidence in front of goal? He had Mata, Hazard, Oscar setting him up at Chelsea and he still couldn't score much especially in the league. You think he will score more goals against packed defences playing wide? Nonsense I'm afraid.

Apart from a good goal in the final against Benfica, his goals came against very average teams like Kazan, Steaua etc.

Barcelona should stay well clear of Torres.

As others have said you would think Torres was world class and one of the best strikers in the world going by your comments, he's not even half as good as you claim.

 

[Meitux]

I wouldn't buy him even for 10 mill. He's a headcase, has HORRIBLE confidence, misses more sitters than Alexis, and overall is just useless.

I agree dont need another player like him,his glory years as footballer are way behind him,now he is average

 

[DavidVillano1]

First of all, let me make it clear; I don't advocate signing Torres or any pure number nine as a Plan B. With that being said... You guys really haven't watched him at all this season, at least based on the comments you're making. He's been isolated in the 4-2-3-1 Chelsea use, where despite Chelsea's strength on paper in midfield they have, for entire games, struggled to get him the ball, resulting in him being rendered completely useless. His touch isn't exactly sharp 100% of the time (and he does have those pure moments as Galning pointed out) but the way you guys are talking about him it's like we're speaking about Ryan Shawcross. He hasn't horrendously missed too many chances this season (certainly not as many as Alexis), is still good in the air, links up well (especially with Spaniards), and has overall been beneficial to Chelsea. If we did have to sign a number 9 as a Plan B, Torres would be my first pick in the balance between affordability and effectiveness.

Torres was not isolated, he had Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Ramires around him all season. What's with people making up myths about Torres on here?

He got the ball often at Chelsea and did next to nothing with it. 8 goals in 68 attempts in the league. Less than a 70% pass ratio. He's not great at holding up the ball and if people are underrating Torres like you suggest then you're certainly overrating him and his link up play.

If Torres was that good, why was Ba preferred to him consistently?

 

[antonnn]

Ba couldn't play in the Europa League, and that's what we were gunning for, so Torres was used less to ensure he was always fit. Plus, as everyone says, he's not as good as he use to be and in the EPL he was poor but in the Europa League he was very good. I feel he'd do better at Barca than here, he'd just be a lot more comfortable and at home. Plus he loves the Nou Camp, he's said it a few times. If he goes to you I hope we scam as much money as we can, sorry to say.

 

[SamperFCB]

Looking forward to his presentation, especially in Camp Nou trying to juggling with the ball in front of all the press. It will look like something like this I guess:

 

[Neal Faradinho]

Looking forward to his presentation, especially in Camp Nou trying to juggling with the ball in front of all the press. It will look like something like this I guess:

 

[BADGERBHOY]

Looking forward to his presentation, especially in Camp Nou trying to juggling with the ball in front of all the press. It will look like something like this I guess:

 

[Butaan4barca]

Looking forward to his presentation, especially in Camp Nou trying to juggling with the ball in front of all the press. It will look like something like this I guess:

 

[ceefoo]

Name a better ST we could by for 20 million or less, that is technically sound enough to fit into our style and as good in the air as Torres is?

- Klose
- Negredo
- Michu
- Berbatov
- Agirretxe
- Burak Yılmaz
- Aubameyang
- Wilfried Bony

All are better and cheaper options. Although maybe not all of them are ideal, but still more sensible than Torres.

And you want us to spend 20m on Has-been with a 12% Shot Conversion and ZERO re-sale value?

Even Alexis is a better finisher than him.

In this day and age of P$G, City and Madrid completely inflating the prices of players, 20 mil really isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things. Players like Lewa, Falcao and Cavani will all go for 45+. Again, I would much rather we lock down a new CB before Torres but this isn't a bad move here guys.

You're right! It's a TERRIBLE move.

Dude one would wonder you describe here some Batistuta with your posts of Torres. He is anything but good striker, if he has all these amaizing attributes then why the hell he is so shit?

:beer2:

 

[Robbie]

Torres' hamstrings are permanently fucked. Thanks to those multiple injuries in the same area, he's nowhere near the same player he was. At least a yard of pace lost, and he no longer has that unpredictability and sudden deadly shot out of nowhere. He's a massive gamble

 

[JimmyGuitarist]

All this plan B talk. With or without a true number 9 upfront, that formation is just one of the many positional variations which have Barca often developed into while in-possession. It's not a change of style.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Even Alexis is a better finisher than him.

You know, me being the guy with the bad memory and all, I decided that maybe I had forgotten some of the bad misses Torres has had this season. Surely all the Torres haters on Youtube have uploaded videos upon videos of his terrible finishing, right?

...

The worst miss, in fact, the only miss one could truly bash him for (that I could find) was a PK against Bucharest (which, by the way, he wouldn't be taking if he was at Barca) which hit the bar in an oddly similar fashion to Messi's PK against Chelsea.

Torres was not isolated, he had Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Ramires around him all season.

I did write, and I quote "where despite Chelsea's strength on paper in midfield", so please don't say that I'm making up myths. I watched a good bit of Chelsea games and I noticed Torres getting very few chances, having to drop deep to even receive the ball.

Here are some of the compilations of his games I was able to find.

One (ends at around 6:30, the rest is him celebrating winning Europa)
Two
Three

What I've noticed from these compilations: He does not get the ball in areas where he could do the most damage nearly as often as he should, given the quality of the service Chelsea possesses. As a result, he is forced to either drop deep or drift out wide to receive the ball, and he is not as effective in those positions. Despite this, he gets crosses in a decent amount of times out on the wing, but unfortunately there is rarely someone in the box who can actually finish. The few times Torres does get the ball in the box it normally results in a dangerous opportunity for Chelsea.

Now, imagine if he was at Barca and we were having one of our Plan B days. Messi is either tucked in behind Torres, or, for now, out on the right wing, free to interchange with our number 9. As we have just seen, Torres is actually decent on the wing, a trait not many strikers possess. And unlike what happens in Chelsea's games, we will actually have a striker in the box (Messi) to put the chances that Torres creates away. Additionally, as creative as Mata and Hazard are, they both pale in comparison to Messi. Messi would be able to get Torres the ball in the box quite frequently, which would result in a lot more goals for him than he got this past season, especially considering how his finishing hasn't been that bad.