Torres commits to Chelsea

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres wants to stay at Stamford Bridge for ‘at least’ another three years, despite speculation he could leave the club.

The Spain international arrived in January 2011 for a well-publicised 50 million pounds, but he has never been able to reproduce the form he had previously shown at Liverpool, for whom he scored 81 goals in 142 matches.

Reports have often claimed Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has grown frustrated with the World Cup winner and that he is contemplating offloading him, but Torres plans on seeing out his current contract.

“I have many things still to give to this club,” Torres told reporters.

“I have three more years’ contract so I’m expecting to stay at least three years.

“We won the Champions League last season. Hopefully we can win the Europa League this one. It is our priority as well as finishing in the top four.

“We want to go back to the Champions League next season and keep winning trophies. I think we have a great squad and a young squad to build on.

“We are sure that we are a great team and we want to show everyone. I would like to be involved.”

Torres and Chelsea are currently preparing for their Europa League semi-final first leg against Basel, and though he admits it was disappointing to be knocked out of the Champions League, he is enjoying the run in Europe’s second-tier tournament.

“All of the team is enjoying this competition,” he said.

“To be out of the Champions League was a very disappointing time for us but we changed our minds and started thinking about the Europa League.

“It is one of the most important targets for us this season. We are showing everyone who were talking about Chelsea not caring about the Europa League this it is not true.

“We are already in the semi-finals and we want to go through. The team is doing a really good performance so it is easy for the striker to score goals when the team is doing well.”

Since beating Steaua Bucharest in the round of 16, Torres has been forced to wear a face mask due to a broken nose and a scan next week shall determine whether he can remove it before the end of the season.

He continued: “It’s getting better, but next week we will go with the doctors to get another scan to see if we can play without the mask.

“It’s not comfortable at all and it depends on the results (of the scan). Maybe (I will wear it) until the end of the season because there is not many games to come.”

According to the suggestions of some, Chelsea interim manager Rafa Benitez was appointed partly with the view to getting the best out of Torres after bringing him to Liverpool from Atletico Madrid, but the striker believes everyone has struggled in some capacity this season.

“It’s never easy to change the manager in the middle of the season,” he explained. “It happened to us last year and we won the Champions League.

“It happened this season again with [Roberto Di Matteo] and when Rafa came. We know each other from our time in Liverpool. It was a great time for everyone, but the situation at Chelsea is different.

“It is another club, different players, different mentality. It has not been an easy season for anyone, but I think we have improved as a team and we are all focused on the same targets.

“We still have one trophy to fight for and to finish in the top four so let’s talk after the season about whether it has been good or bad.”