When Money Does Not Talk!

As a professional athlete responsibility is thrust upon you to perform on the playing surface, no matter which sport you play. Athletes are expected to play to their full potential, earn their salary, for this is their job. Each player has a certain role to play, regardless of position. Occasionally, a player will put their team in a tough spot when a club who invests so much capital into him/her is not rewarded with adequate performance.

In the world of football (soccer), professional footballers are held at such a high standard of performance that a simple drop in form and production leaves you watching the game from the bench. Clubs (the majority in Europe with big bankrolls) spend millions of dollars on players in hopes that their presence to the team will ignite a greater chance at winning titles (trophies). The biggest failure of performance level comes from one of the worlds highest transferred players from Liverpool to Chelsea (English clubs), Fernando Torres.

Torres has been with Chelsea for a year now, it has hardly been anything to celebrate for the 27-year old striker, Chelsea fans, or the organization. Torres is on course as being remembered as one of the most expensive flops in the history of football. The man worth €50 million (Approx $66 million US Dollars) has scored just four times (2 in UCL, 2 in PREM) in 44 Chelsea appearances since last January's move from Liverpool and is currently on his longest scoring drought yet. Three and a half months, 17 games, $16.5 million per goal to date, whichever way you look at it the statistics is what matters, and his stats clearly lack quality.  Torres has been starting every game in 2012 after losing his starting spot to striker Didier Drogba in the month of November, only because striker Didier Drogba is away from the club while playing for his native country Ivory Coast in the African Nations Cup.

"At the beginning of the season, I went through a hard moment, I was not playing, things were wrong, and I was eight games without playing. I had never been in this situation before" says Torres. Although he scored for the first time this season in September's game at Manchester United, the striker also produced one of the worst open-goal misses in Premier League history. (click the link below to watch the atrocity). Torres' future for 2012 rests solely on his ability to start producing goals for his club. If he fails to do so, Torres' future for next season at Stamford Bridge could see the once world-class striker transferred due to his lack of performance.

Clubs are in a difficult spot, because they want to have players that give their team the best chance at being successful. However, when they pay mass sums of money for the services of one man, even if he is currently doing well before acquiring him, they cannot control how he will perform in a new environment. As a coach, you can train him to attack in different ways to help progress his chance at goal; he can be supported morally by his family, friends, fans, teammates, and coaching staff in hopes of boosting his confidence. It does not matter how many resources you put in front of an athlete; if they cannot capitalize on their own opportunities during a game then none of it matters. One player is never worth that much capital when the factor of "chance" is involved. These include the chance of injury, the chance that he does not perform well, the chance that he has lost his drive or focus, and even the chance that he is no longer physically fit as he once was. €50 million spent on one man who has thus far failed to live up to his expectations at Chelsea. Torres' is currently in a dark place in his life; does his future look bright?


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EusI4xO8gVM&feature=related