Jamie Carragher has declared that former Liverpool teammate Fernando Torres is on borrowed time at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho at the helm.
Torres was left out of Mourinho's starting XI for last night's 0-0 draw against Manchester United in favour of Andre Schurrle, coming off the bench to play 30 minutes at Old Trafford.
Carragher believes that the Spanish striker has failed to impress Mourinho during pre-season, insisting that he is unlikely to reach the same standard of performances he managed alongside Carragher for Liverpool.
He told Sky Sports News: "I'm wondering if Mourinho was sending a message to the owner in the stands. We all know he wants Rooney, that's obvious. He's basically saying that his strikers aren't good enough; that's what he's telling the world out there.
"You could say it's probably the end at Chelsea [for Torres]. I didn't think he was going to have too great a time under Mourinho. As soon as Jose came in his quotes were quite negative about Torres. He started him in the first game against Hull and he was poor. I don't think he got stripped for the second game against Villa.
"I've played with Torres at Old Trafford and he tortured Nemanja Vidic, he totally took him to the cleaners on this pitch in 2009. You wouldn't have swapped him for anyone. But now he can't even get on the pitch ahead of Schurrle, who is only a winger. For me, in terms of an individual player, I don't think we'll ever see Torres come back to being the player we saw a few years ago against Vidic at Old Trafford."
The 29-year-old has scored 15 Premier League goals for Chelsea in 84 appearances.
Liam Power
