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AVB compares Torres to Shevchenko & Kezman

Andre Villas-Boas has failed to get the best out of £50m striker Fernando Torres this season © PA Photos

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Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has likened Fernando Torres' current plight to the ones the club endured with high-profile flops Mateja Kezman and Andrey Shevchenko.

Torres has failed to settle at Chelsea since making a £50 million move to the club from Liverpool just over a year ago, scoring two goals in 21 Premier League appearances this season - and his lack of form has cost him a place in the most recent Spain squad.

Villas-Boas has highlighted the parallels with Shevchenko and Kezman, both of whom never managed to set Stamford Bridge alight. Ukrainian legend Shevchenko probably ranks as one of the biggest let-downs in Premier League history; the striker could never recapture his best form during three years as a Chelsea player following a £30m switch from Milan.

"We have been through the Torres situation before with Shevchenko and Kezman," Villas-Boas told Portuguese radio station TSF. "We continue to work on his motivation, his specific movements on the field and his trust. There is only one atmosphere which will make him regain his trust, and that is a competitive atmosphere.

"For me there was a key moment for Torres: his sending off against Swansea. He was playing well and was motivated at the time, he had returned to the goals, also in that match. He scored in the 15th minute against Swansea and was sent off in the 35th, and got a three-match ban. There was also an international match in between, so he did not play for Chelsea for one month.

"I do not know how much that affected him but when he got back, we had two disappointments in terms of results and he returned to this disbelief in himself."

Villas-Boas' hold on the Chelsea job appears to be threatened by one of his predecessors, with reports in the English press suggesting Jose Mourinho, who is rumoured to be leaving Real Madrid this summer, is hunting for a house in West London.

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