It’s fair to say that 2011 hasn’t been very kind to Chelsea’s supposed striker Fernando Torres. Ever since making the move to Stamford Bridge in an astonishing £50 million move from Liverpool in January his career has been on a steady decline. Concerns over his fitness and a series of laboured and lacklustre performances have seen fans and pundits alike to question whether the Spaniard has what it takes to cope with the cut and thrust of the Premier League.
On the flip side of things teammate Daniel Sturridge has seen his career reach new heights this year with a loan spell at Boltonlast season seeing the Englishman unexpectedly flourish.
The 22-year-old has carried his form over from the Reebok Stadium into the current campaign and he’s played in a vast majority of Chelsea‘s games this season impressing enough to earn full England honours in their recent friendlies. His emergence as a key member of the Blues’ striking trio has been a breath of fresh air in West London and the youngster has ambitions to become the clubs new goal hero.
It was reported in the press during the week that Sturridge has told boss Andre Villas-Boas that he wants to become Chelsea’s central figure up front at the expense of Torres. The question is does he deserve the chance to usurp the World Cup winner as the club’s attacking spearhead?
Watching both strikers during the course of this year has proved fascinating viewing with Torres‘ career moving in the opposite direction to that of the exciting Sturridge. Observing the formers fall from grace in the last 11 months has been distressing to say the least considering it was just three short years ago that scored the winning goal for Spain in the Euro 2008 final against Germany.
It was a goal that encompassed everything that was great about Torres at the time with his pace, power and composure all on display. Sadly all those attributes that made him such a feared frontman have diminished and he now looks a shadow of the player he once was. Sturridge, on the other hand, has prospered this year after his temporary stay at Bolton during the second half of the previous campaign.
It’s ironic that the former Manchester City man was farmed out on loan due to Torres’ arrival in West London only to return six months later with eight goals in 11 games under his belt whilst his counterpart managed only one in 18 games. The striker has been tipped for greatness every since coming through the youth system at the Etihad Stadium but has never experienced a consistent run of first team football. His short spell playing for Owen Coyle’s side gave the striker the opportunity to play on a regular basis and he grasped it with tightly.