Rafael Benitez has told Fernando Torres to start pumping iron if he’s serious about becoming Chelsea’s million dollar man of steel.
Interim Blues boss Benitez admits he doesn’t know if Torres can recapture the glory days that convinced the Blues to make him the most expensive player ever transferred between British clubs almost two years ago but claims his fellow Spaniard needs to get fitter.
Benitez, who helped Torres become one of the best strikers in the world at Liverpool, acknowledged the 28-year-old is not the same player he was before joining Chelsea for STG50 million ($A77.2 million).
But he insists the striker could still make himself an asset rather than a liability at Stamford Bridge, and to do so, he needs to get down the gym.
“We have to improve some players physically and they will come back to maybe the strength they had,” Benitez said, insisting age or injuries had nothing to do with Torres’s loss of explosive pace.
“You have to work in the gym on strength. Maybe he needs to do that again.”
Three Blues managers have failed to get Torres scoring regularly, each repeatedly insisting there was nothing wrong with the forward.
But the man who knows his fellow Spaniard better than any of them said: “He’s not exactly the same player now, because he was at maximum level at this time [at Liverpool].
“But I think he can come back. How close? I don’t know. It depends on the rest of the team.
“I’m sure he can improve but the team has to help him.”
Torres also has to help himself, as does Benitez, following a run of just 19 goals in 88 games for the European champions.
“The first thing is to give him some confidence, instructions as to how he can do things in a different way, improve him a little bit physically,” said Benitez, who wants Torres’ teammates to create more chances for the striker and win the ball back more quickly in defence.
“You need to be stronger in defence, regain the ball easier and then you can create your own chances. That will benefit Torres.
“Players with mobility, quality… we can improve all these things.”
He added: “If, afterwards, he’s not scoring I will analyse why.”