Chelsea striker Fernando Torres believes it is only a matter of time before he goes back to playing his best football and promised to repay the club’s faith in him.
Despite winning the Champions League and the FA Cup with Chelsea, Torres’ spell at the club so far has been largely regarded as unsuccessful, and many have predicted the former Liverpool player to be sold in the upcoming transfer window.
The Spain international, who moved to the Blues for a British record fee of £50million in 2011, has just managed to score 29 goals in 116 appearances for the club.
Torres, who made his name at Atletico Madrid, has recently been linked with a move back to the club, but the 29-year-old insists he is currently not looking for a transfer and has vowed to lead Chelsea to glory in the next few seasons.
“I’ve never hidden that I am grateful because Atletico gave me many things, but the reality is I am in another team and I have three more years on my contract,” Torres told the Daily Mail.
“I have a lot of things to give to Chelsea and many things to prove to myself before returning home.
“Right now, returning to Atletico is not a reality.
“I want to do the things I used to do all my life.
“I did them at Atletico, I did them at Liverpool and I am not doing them at Chelsea.
“I am working on it. If I knew the reason, I would fix it in one minute. But the only way to fix these things is to work at it.
‘I am training every day and I will never, ever give up.
“I will try my heart out for this club. There are too many things I have to give back to these people and I want to show my thanks to them.
“Hopefully this season we can give them two more trophies and next season we can fight again for the biggest ones, the Champions League and the Premier League.”
Torres also expressed his delight at being able to work with the plethora of talent in Chelsea’s midfield and tipped the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata to bring the club far.
“We have to realise how good the players are in our midfield,” Torres added.
“They are the heart of the team now. Eden [Hazard], Oscar and Juan Mata have been doing well.
“Oscar is 21 and it has been a great season for him. It is not easy to come to Chelsea at 21 and be an important player.
“OK, he’s a Brazilian international, a great player, but he is 21 and has never played in Europe before.
“We have to think about these things as we build for the future. If this is something we believe in, we must stick with it.”
Chelsea are currently fighting with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal to finish in the top four; the Blues finished sixth in the Premier League last season, but their unexpected success in the Champions League granted them a place in the competition at the expense of the Lilywhites.
However, such a scenario is impossible this season with Chelsea having been knocked out of European club football’s premier competition in the group stages, and Torres has urged his side to step up their performances in the final few games in order to secure qualification for the Champions League once again.
“I’m sure we have learned from last season,” Torres insisted.
“We finished sixth and we know what happened. We started to focus on the Champions League, forgetting the Premier League.
“Things were OK because we won the Champions League.
“But we don’t want to play in the Europa League next season. We want to play in the Champions League.
“We have to focus and finish in the top four. At the same time we have to try to win the FA Cup and the Europa League.”
Chelsea will take on Sunderland in their next Premier League fixture.