Roman Abramovich is already going cold on £50million flop Fernando Torres and will consider selling him this summer.
The Chelsea owner drove through the record-breaking signing of the striker from Liverpool in January in the hope that he would make the club a force in Europe, but after losing to Manchester United in the first leg of their quarter-final in the Champions League last Wednesday, Abramovich’s patience is wearing thin.
A Chelsea insider said: ‘I know the owner is not happy with his investment. He could even sell Torres in the summer, despite having just bought him.’
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side went 10 points clear at the top yesterday with a 2-0 win over Fulham.
Torres has failed to score for Chelsea despite spending 648 minutes trying and he squandered good chances when he came on against Wigan yesterday, as Carlo Ancelotti started with Didier Drogba in a 1-0 win.
He has looked a shadow of the player who took the Premier League by storm at Liverpool and Abramovich is aware that interest in the former Atletico Madrid player remains strong in Spain.
It would be a climbdown for the Russian to give up so soon but he will listen to offers if he sees no improvement before the end of the season.
Chelsea have struggled with Abramovich-led buys before, with £30m Andriy Shevchenko failing at the club and his presence adding to problems with then manager Jose Mourinho.
With Chelsea looking to re-build in the summer after finishing 2nd in the Premier League maybe Torres will be forced out.
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