Jose Mourinho has described Fernando Torres’ Chelsea career as ‘so-so’ and insists he and he alone will have the final say on the Spanish striker’s future at Stamford Bridge.
Torres scored a respectable 23 goals for the Blues last season, but his two year stay in west London has been far from convincing with the 29-year-old always struggling to justify the £50million owner Roman Abramovich splashed out on him in 2011.
There have been numerous reports linking Torres with a move away from the Bridge this summer – Barcelona have emerged as shock suitors in recent days.
Mourinho admits Torres still has plenty to prove at the Bridge but stresses his time at the club has not been as bad as some make out.
‘Torres so far is so-so,’ he said. ‘Somebody could expect more because of his potential, because of what he did before. But not so bad as people sometimes try to say.’
Comparisons between Torres and Chelsea’s last big transfer flop Andriy Shevchenko, who was signed during Mourinho’s previous reign at the club, have been made before.
It was reported at the time that the Special One had little say on the signing – with Abramovich forcing the Ukrainian legend upon him.
However, Mourinho insists that is not the case and maintains he will always have the final say on who comes in and who leaves the club while he is the manager.
‘Shevchenko? It’s not true the owner forced him on me,’ he said. ‘Never, never during my time did the owner interfere in the basic things of the manager – training sessions, team selection, the profile of player I want to bring.
‘Do you want to know the truth about Shevchenko? We wanted to buy Samuel Eto’o, he was our target. We wanted Eto’o and the owner was more than ready to do everything to bring Eto’o here.
‘In the end, Barcelona said, “We don’t sell, forget it, forget it. Not any price”. The owner did everything to get him, but it was not possible.
‘After that, we went to other options and got to Shevchenko. I was happy with him.’
MORE: Torres not interested in Barca link
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