In the first part of this feature on Chelsea and Fernando Torres, I looked at potential strike partners for the No. 9. If you haven’t read part 1, you can check it out here. In this, the second half of my extended article on this topic, I am going to assess the other type of player The Blues will need to purchase in order to get the Spaniard firing on all cylinders once more; a creative midfielder.

A playmaker in the centre of the field is absolutely essential if Torres is to rediscover his form. The Spanish No. 9 is a classic striker; he likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender and thrives on well delivered passes from the centre of the park which split the defence and allow him to use his pace to exploit the space behind them. It was this sort of service at Liverpool which allowed him to terrorise central defenders like Nemanja Vidic for several seasons.

The lack of a midfielder with that kind of vision at Chelsea has been a factor which has hindered Torres over the past few months, something which Chelsea’s assistant manager Michael Emenalo has stated himself. Emenalo said; “he’s still adapting to the pattern of Chelsea at the moment. This is due to the fact he’s still missing the juicy passes being served to him by the likes of [Xabi] Alonso and [Steven] Gerrard, but with time he will adapt.”

Indeed, although Chelsea have great midfielders such as Frank Lampard and Michael Essien, neither is the type of player who will pick out long-field balls or well timed passes between central defenders allowing Torres to beat the offside trap. It is clear then that The Blues will need to invest in a player of this type in order to get Torres scoring regularly once again. Although I’m sure the fans would love to see Steven Gerrard or Xabi Alonso brought to Stamford Bridge, it just isn’t going to happen. Therefore, Chelsea will need to look elsewhere. As of press time, there are several players whom The Blues are said to be very interested in purchasing to fulfill this essential role.

The first is a player who I included in part 1 of this blog; Alexis Sanchez. In that piece I spoke of him as a strike partner for the Spaniard, a role which he would undoubtedly play to perfection. However, Sanchez has also fulfilled the role of a winger and central midfielder at current club Udinese and it is a position that Chelsea may well choose to place him in if they can beat Manchester United, Manchester City and Barcelona in signing the young Chilean. I felt I should make mention of Sanchez again here as he is the type of player who would be able to play the same sort of passes as the other creative attacking midfielders Chelsea are courting, plus he would provide crosses for Torres to pounce on and score some headed goals.

Reports are suggesting that Manchester United are closest to securing Sanchez’s services with a £27 million bid, but Chelsea may up their bid over the next few days and see off the advances of their Manchester rivals.

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Another player who is being pursued by both Chelsea and Man Utd is the Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder. The Dutchman pledged his allegiance to the Italian club last week but now appears to have distanced himself from those comments, saying now that “only God will decide where my future lies”, which has opened up the gates for yet more talk of him coming to the Premier League. Certainly if The Blues were to beat The Red Devils in buying Sneijder, it would be a huge coup for Roman Abramovich and the Stamford Bridge outfit. Sneijder is precisely the type of midfielder Torres would love to be playing with and if Chelsea can get him then expect Chelsea’s No. 9 to improve dramatically next season.

The other two central midfielders who Chelsea are rumoured to have been actively pursuing for weeks are Real Madrid’s Kaka and Tottenham Hotspur’s Luka Modric. Modric is in demand at the moment as he was arguably Spurs’ best and most consistent player last season and, yet again, Chelsea will have to fight off interest from Manchester United if they are to get the Croatian playmaker to join them. Harry Redknapp has resolutely stated that he will not be selling Modric during the summer transfer period since he will be extremely hard to replace in the Tottenham midfield.

However, there is word that Chelsea would be willing to offer Didier Drogba in a £30 million, part-exchange deal for Modric, and with Redknapp’s top priority being a striker adding to the rumour of Spurs looking to sign Scott Parker in the centre of the park, perhaps Harry will be willing to relinquish his hold on the Croatian. Torres would play well with Luka Modric behind him, you have to believe.

As for Kaka, the Brazilian may be happy to move on from Real Madrid since his time there has been a minor disaster for the former World Player of the Year. Kaka has stated he wants to prove himself to Real manager Jose Mourinho, but since Mourinho seems to favour Mesut Ozil in the centre of midfield it is difficult to see Kaka being able to crack the first team at Madrid for the foreseeable future. A change of scenery would probably be beneficial for the Brazilian and help him to rediscover his own form. Rumours of Kaka moving to London have subsided over the last week but a move to Chelsea still appears to be a distinct possibility. If both Kaka and Torres were to find their form in a more attack minded Chelsea side, then The Blues would certainly be pushing for the Premier League title next season.

Finally, there is the Santos midfielder Ganso. To be honest there have been no rumours linking the Brazilian maestro to Chelsea but I do wonder if the rumoured £30 million bid for Santos striker Neymar were accepted, whether Ganso would be persuaded to join his Santos and Brazil team-mate in London. Much of Neymar’s success at Santos this season can be directly attributed to the service he recieved from Ganso and if Neymar and Torres were to form a new strike partnership at Stamford Bridge then both would thrive on the kind of midfield delivery Ganso brings. I’ll admit this scenario is highly unlikely to come true, but stranger things have happened during the transfer window!

So to conclude, if Chelsea can secure one of their striker targets and one of their central midfield targets during this transfer window then I expect things will start looking very healthy for The Blues and Fernando Torres next season. Chelsea have prioritised both these types of players as must buys and as such I believe the only way is up for the club. Chelsea and its fans will just have to hope that it is indeed a lack of great midfield service and a world class striker alongside Torres that has hindered his abilities at Stamford Bridge. Because if he has just lost his form as a result of injuries then we may never see the Spaniard back to his phenomenal best of just a few seasons ago. In that case, Chelsea could be in some trouble.

By Alex Watt for This Is Futbol