AVB rejects claims Torres is mentally fragile

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has leapt to the defence of his 50-million-pound striker Fernando Torres over his mental state.

Former Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti suggested during the week that the Spaniard has been ‘devoured’ by the personality of Didier Drogba.

The current Paris Saint-Germain coach claimed that Torres could not shine for Chelsea until Drogba was sold as the Ivorian’s ego was too dominant in the Stamford Bridge dressing room.

However, Villas-Boas rejected the suggestion that Torres was mentally weak and claimed he is happy with the Spaniard’s performances.

“It would be unfair for a player of Fernando’s personality and dimension to conclude that one is inflicting on the other one’s belief,” Villas-Boas said.

“If that was the case with any player, it would be a mental weakness or a mental block, which is not the case in my opinion.”

“We have a player like Dzeko with plenty of goals but he’s not used all the time by City.”

“The numbers, statistically, are impressive for Dzeko.”

“He had scored 10 goals in the first few weeks of the season.”

“But (City boss Roberto) Mancini feels others offer something positive and different for the team.”

Villas-Boas concluded that despite the disappointing goal return, the statistics alone are not enough to judge Torres’ worth to Chelsea.

“He’s a striker with a hunger for goals who wants to be in the box,” the Chelsea boss said.

“We’ve seen him in the box, we’ve seen him arrive and create danger.”

“As long as he’s working well for the team, I don’t care how the statistics will finish and how dramatic people think they are.”