Torres: Being dropped helped me

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Chelsea striker Fernando Torres believes that his poor form last season, which led to him losing his first-team place to Didier Drogba, has helped him grow as a player.

The Spaniard signed for a British transfer record of £50 million in the January transfer window in 2011. Despite the fanfare over signing for the Blues, It took him 903 minutes before he scored his first goal and he had to endure one of the worst starts to a career imaginable.
His debut full season was not any better as inconsistency continued to haunt him leading to Torres losing his place in the first team for both Chelsea and the Spain national side. It took a lot of hard work and some better performances towards the end of the season for the ex-Liverpool striker to finally reclaim his starting berth.
With Chelsea winning the FA Cup and the Champions League last season, he finally had a reason to smile and be proud of his decision to switch clubs. Moreoever, he won the Euro 2012 Golden Boot award, much to his own surprise, as he scored the most number of goals in the least number for minutes in the tournament.
Torres believes that the experience of being dropped and having to work hard to restore his reputation was vital for his development and he is grateful that his team-mates gave him the support needed to make the comeback.
"During my first season [at Chelsea], I did my best but still did not play," Torres told La Razon magazine.
"I always did my best, even if it was with a new coach, a new team, and a style of training I was not used to.
"I relied on my fellow colleagues on the bench for support, who always set a good example for me. I learnt to take as many chances as I could during the vital minutes I was afforded in the prelude to the European finals.
"All I know was that I learnt to try harder, in a team full of stars, and understand that everything I had done in the past [with Liverpool] counted for little. I grew a lot from that experience."
Torres is fully expected to become the focal point of a new-look Chelsea attack and he scored in the side's 3-2 defeat to Manchester City in the Community Shield. He could next feature on Sunday when Chelsea play Wigan at the DW Stadium in the first game of their new campaign.