Fernando Torres: Champions League winner with nowhere to go

Poor Fernando Torres. Two days after winning the Champions League, adding club football's top honour to his European Championship and World Cup medals, he's revealed how unhappy he is at Chelsea. In the early betting, he's 1.21/5 to depart Stamford Bridge this summer but the Blues hierarchy have said that Torres is going nowhere.

Didier Drogba, the man who started the final ahead of the Spaniard, scored his team's equaliser and winning penalty in the shootout, is almost certain to go to Shanghai Shenhua. Torres says that being named as a substitute against Bayern Munich was, "Perhaps the biggest disappointment in my life." A jarring statement from a man who hails from a country with a 50 percent youth unemployment rate.

Perhaps that's unfair. In the life of a footballer, being snubbed for a 34-year-old in the Champions League final has got to hurt. Spain's players can bring their beleaguered population some much needed joy this summer by winning a consecutive European title and, at 3.8514/5, Betfair punters are backing them to do so. You can get 38.037/1 on Spain/Torres in the winner/top goalscorer market but that's probably one to avoid because Torres has an unusual relationship with glory.

In 2008, following a brilliant season with Liverpool, he scored the winner in the final but that was one of only two tournament goals and he was overshadowed up front by David Villa. Two years later, when Spain won the World Cup, Torres failed to score and lost his place in the starting line-up for both the semi-final and final. He cut a forlorn figure during Spain's celebrations as he found himself in a strange position - it was the finest hour in his country's football history and yet he had endured one of the most disconcerting months of his career.

He has never recovered and Liverpool, for all their subsequent woes, were right to take 50 million for him in January 2011. He has dropped off as Andriy Shevchenko did before him at Chelsea and Juan Sebastian Veron at Manchester United. It's painful for all concerned and you'd need a heart of stone to wish a decline as dramatic as Torres' on any athlete.

If he does leave Chelsea, where will Torres go? He may give up on England and it's unlikely that any of the few clubs who can afford his wages would gamble on him. Manchester City's rip-roaring attack doesn't need slowing down by a player who's short of confidence, Chelsea wouldn't sell to Tottenham and Arsene Wenger is committed to another summer of frugality. Veron and Shevchenko eventually returned to the clubs where they began their careers - Estudiantes and Dynamo Kyiv respectively - where they still play today.

Is Torres set for obscurity and ignominy? Probably not, but he might benefit from a stint in the comfort zone, at a club where he is still revered. Atletico Madrid, though, have just won the Europa League thanks to Radamel Falcao's scoring feats. Would you swap a man who smashed 24 goals in 34 appearances last season for one who managed 11 in 46? If Chelsea offer Atletico a wad of cash to stuff under the mattress as well as Torres, you never know.

But there is one Premier League manager who might harbour a soft spot for Torres. Sir Alex Ferguson was an early admirer and Manchester United were the English club most likely to land Torres before Rafael Benitez persuaded his compatriot to join him at Anfield. Ferguson, who is set to lose both Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen this summer, will be watching Torres' performances at Euro 2012 with interest.