Thanks for the memories or thanks for leaving?

 

In a statement, Chelsea announced that Fernando Torres would be making his move to the San Siro permanent, and thanked him for "his service during the past four seasons".

With his service costing almost £2.5 million per goal, Chelsea fans were of the opinion that he should be rather thanked for making the move permanent.

It was back in November, 2010 that Roman Abramovich had his eyes set on Torres when he scored a brace against Chelsea. And the Russian billionaire is not denied what he wants. After already failing to land him in May 2010, and failing again with a reported bid of £40 million in January 2011, Abramovich went all out and signed the cursed cheque of £50 million for the player he so deeply craved, on one of the most expensive deadline days.

But Torres was the hero that Chelsea did not want for a price he did not deserve. Chelsea was more in need of creativity in midfield back then, rather than a striker plagued with injuries over the past year, rumored to be diminished in his powers. A striker whose style of play was never suited to Chelsea.

He started off, with an absolute nightmare of a debut against his old club Liverpool where his every touch was met with resounding boos. A 903-minute drought followed, which ended when finally even the pitch at Stamford Bridge frustrated, sympathised with the striker slowing the ball down in a puddle allowing him to curl the ball past Rob Green.

That £50 million tag weighed heavily on his shoulders which soon went from shrugging to drooping at the continuous disappointments.

Neither Villas-Boas nor Di Matteo could get him back to his glory days. In fact, both were axed after leaving him out. Abramovich went to the lengths of appointing Rafa Benitez, widely unpopular amongst the Blues, to get the best out of his favorite blue.

Torres fared much better under his old mentor, finishing the 2012-13 season with 22 goals, but only eight were in the league.

With each goal came the hope of a false dawn, with every decent performance the hope that he was back.

Although never convinced, that’s how football fans are, always believing, forever hoping. But in this case, only to be let down every single time.

Torres’ most disappointing moment in a Chelsea shirt was perhaps that infamous miss at Old Trafford. When, after rounding De Gea he somehow managed to shoot wide of an unguarded goal. Since then, he consistently delivered moments of joy to football fans on social media across the world.

But what some people easily forget is during his time at Chelsea he added to his collection an FA Cup, Champions League and a Europa League for Chelsea and the Euro 2012 crown, where he also won the golden boot.

Also, although there were numerous times that he played and did not score, but every time, especially in his last year, he ran his heart out for the team.

He also had some great moments at Chelsea.

His goal against Barcelona to seal Chelsea’s place in the final, will live in the memories of every Chelsea fan. His goal against Benfica in the Europa League final, where he raced away from Garay, showed great strength and composure to finish was a classic Torres goal.

The match against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in his final year, in which he burst past Clichy to lay it on a plate for Schurrle and then scored the winner in the final minutes was one of his best performances in a league match.His hat-trick against QPR is memorable not only for its rarity but also for his amazing performance.

Last but not the least, but the corner that led to Drogba’s equalizer in the Champions League Final was won by a sprint down the flank by Torres.

Maybe the goal against Barcelona and the hat-trick against QPR were inconsequential, maybe there’s nothing to give credit for in winning a corner.

But El Nino has certainly given us some moments to cherish.