JOSE: THE TORTURE OF £ 50m TORRES

Blues boss stands by flop star as Costa and Drogba join title fight

JOSE MOURINHO has revealed that £50million man Fernando Torres is stricken by low selfesteem.

Torres has scored just 20 goals in 110 Premier League appearances since arriving at Stamford Bridge f rom Liverpool in 2011.

Now Mourinho has hinted at the World Cup- winning Spain striker’s mental anguish.

But after insisting Torres won’t be sold, the Chelsea boss hardly boosted the player’s shaky confidence by describing him as “very useful”.

Mourinho fears Torres is now more famous for his misses than his goals, but hopes he can make an impression alongside summer signings Diego Costa and Didier Drogba.

Mourinho said: “Fernando is a good player and will not be sold.

“Maybe the self-esteem in terms of goalscorer is not at the top.

“All eyes are on him and when he misses a goal, every- body remembers. But his work for the team is fantastic and because of that we can play with two of the forwards at the same time, no problem.

“We can play Nando and Didier or Nando and Costa – like we did in Vitesse Arnhem on Wednesday when he played from the side. Maybe we could even play both through the middle.

“When we are not winning matches, sometimes we play with three defenders and two strikers.

“Nando will always be a choice and a very useful player for us.”

A very useful player – but not the main man.

Roman Abramovich has had to dip back into his pocket and there is little doubt that £32m new boy Costa is going to be the key to goals for Chelsea this season.

Speaking at Chelsea’s preseason camp in Holland, Mourinho revealed he spent seven months planning for the arrival of the man who led Atletico Madrid on a fantastic domestic and European adventure last season.

Costa bagged 36 goals in all competitions – more than Torres has scored in his past two seasons at Chelsea. Mourinho said: “We needed to transform our squad a bit and especially the striker and midfielder position.

“We identified clearly the profile of the players we needed.

“With Diego we always had the feeling from six or seven months ago that we could possibly get him.

“We decided it probably would be good for us not to buy a striker in January because we knew we could get THE striker in June.

“So that was a very good decision by the club to wait for the striker we wanted.”

Inspire

Mourinho is also delighted to have Drogba back, to take Costa under his wing and teach him what it takes to become a Blues legend.

Especially with Cesc Fabregas now supplying ammunition from midfield.

The Special One believes the £27m former Arsenal hero is the missing piece who can inspire them to make up for l ast s eason’s l ack of silverware.

And Mourinho remains genuinely surprised to have landed him.

He said: “I always thought Fabregas would be a Barcelona player because he is so good and, being a Catalan and with the end of Xavi’s career coming, I thought Fab would stay.

“But it was him being so strong about this position and coming back to English football – a bit like me.

“I was in a big club and wanted to be back. He was at a big club and wanted to be back.

“Our club have done very well to get him.

“I see him everywhere because he can play everywhere. He can play as a No.10 and score and also a No.8.

“He is the missing piece of our engine.

“We are so happy and all the players have a fantastic feeling around him.”

Last term Mourinho insisted his side were only a “small horse” in the race for the title. This time, there will be no such statements.