Ever since Fernando Torres swapped his red shirt for a royal blue one, there has been much media attention on his performances and how he settles in at Chelsea. As we have all witnessed, he seems to not have settled in yet and almost a year has passed, so it is natural that all kinds of rumours start surrounding him. Rumours of moving away from Stamford Bridge.

The latest rumour has it that Italian football giants AC Milan are looking to get a replacement for Antonio Cassano who underwent a heart surgery and has been ruled out indefinitely, and they’ve shown interest towards Torres on a loan deal. Big-spending Spanish side Malaga have also targeted Torres this winter. European clubs are like vultures around Stamford Bridge after Fernando’s unfortunate first year at Chelsea. Now the Daily Mail have reported that Chelsea have agreed to let the £50m purchase leave for as little as £20m. How often, I wonder, do they write something that is on the mark? I don’t recall many occasions.

Secondly, Roman Abramovich is foremost a businessman who won’t make a record purchase to then sell it for crumbs. Sure, Torres seems like a failed deal at the moment but Abramovich is not a man who gives up easily. He didn’t let Drogba and Shevchenko go, and they had a rough start in this club as well. But why talk about something that has been talked about hundreds of times before? I’d much rather tell you why I’m 99% sure he is going nowhere in January.

As we already know, Nicolas Anelka’s move to Shanghai Shenhua has gone through. Deduct one from our list of strikers. That leaves us with Torres, Drogba, Sturridge and a number of younger talents. Drogba and Kalou will be on African Cup of Nations duty this month which leaves us Torres and Sturridge. Now if we let go of Torres, that would leave us with Sturridge alone for a couple of weeks, and although the lad is in great form, he cannot carry the team alone. And the younger lads may be talented, but they are inexperienced.

Even though the African Cup of Nations leaves us without the Ivorian for just a couple of weeks and we could manage with Sturridge as centre forward somehow, two experienced strikers still isn’t enough. Besides, we can’t quite call Sturridge experienced yet. He is in good form, scores goals and creates chances, but he’s rough around the edge. Torres will be the main striking force alongside Sturridge in January.

If we had another experienced striker in our squad it would be a different story. But we don’t. Chelsea would have to sign another world-class striker who would cost another £30m-£40m, but recent experience shows that world-class footballers might not even settle in at a new club so easily. Therefore, why take a risk and get rid of one of our strikers before we have any certainty that the new player would deliver? Moreover, if the club still expects Torres to come good at Chelsea, would sending him on loan do any good or vice versa? He might do well in Milan, Malaga or wherever he would be sent to, but when he returns to Chelsea he has to settle in all over again.

Go ahead, be my guest if you want him to come good on loan in another club so you can push up his price and sell him. But January is really not the time. I believe that, given playing time (more than the usual 10 minutes he gets) and insurance that he is needed at Chelsea, he will start scoring. Although, he also needs to pick up his pace. I have noticed he is being outrun by opponents lately. Anyway, good luck to Fernando Torres. I still hope he can come good. I trust that Abramovich will not make any hectic decisions and saves Chelsea from striker drought this spring. Up the Chels!

Written by Annely