Chelsea are reportedly willing to let Fernando Torres leave, but will they find a taker?

The Telegraph are suggesting that Chelsea are finally willing to part ways with Fernando Torres this summer, and this story at least seems to be acknowledging that it may not be quite as straightforward as just finding someone that has a need for the player. So who would have interest if the right deal was available? According to the report:

Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid have shown an interest in Torres, but neither club would be prepared to match his £175,000-a-week wages and pay a £20 million transfer fee.

It's kind of nice to see a little bit of common sense creep into an article like this, as frankly, that's not the sort of thing that usually sells papers. Inter Milan have an obvious need for a striker, and as sad as it may be, Torres is still much better than the garbage they've been trotting out to lead the line this season. Atletico would also be in need of a striker this summer should Diego Costa depart, and since the Brazilian-born Spanish international will almost certainly leave the club, they'll likely have a need for a warm body up top.

That said, no club is going to pay a £20 million transfer fee for Torres at this point regardless of his wages, and nobody is going to be matching his £175,000 per week even if he's available on a free. Getting rid of Fernando Torres is something Chelsea will obviously have interest in doing, but it's probably going to be an awfully difficult task to actually accomplish, especially if UEFA drop the hammer on clubs that violate FFP.

The paper goes on to address the idea of Torres being used as part-exchange for Diego Costa:

Chelsea want to sign Diego Costa from Atletico and will allow Torres to move back to his former club as part of the transfer. But the Spaniards would prefer an initial loan deal for the 30-year-old, so they can bank the majority of Costa’s £32 million release clause.

Again, logical. Of course Atletico would have interest in taking Torres back if Costa leaves the club,  though that interest is probably based entirely on paying no fee and the player taking a considerably smaller wage. They aren't going to take our very expensive trash in order to make it easier for us to take their treasure. Sorry guys and gals, it just doesn't work like that.

Finally, the article addresses Inter Milan, and their supposed interest in taking the player on loan:

Torres would also be allowed to join Inter for a season if the Italians paid his wages or a loan fee

I don't get the "or" here, as these are two very, very different scenarios. Inter aren't going to pay £9.1 million (the equivalent of his wages) in order to take an underperforming player on loan for one season, regardless of whether that's a fee, a wage, or a combination of both. The same can probably be said for Atletico, unless Chelsea decide to pay them a larger fee for Costa in order to free up more short term funds because of the amortization of fees. Loaning Fernando is going to require the Blues to pay a large portion of his wages in order to see him do his thing somewhere else.

Chelsea are buying a striker this summer, and are clearly going to be fine with letting our record signing go somewhere else. Unfortunately though, we're probably still going to have to pay a good amount of money for the next two seasons in order to make that move happen. Because I'm not entirely sure anyone will actually drink enough in a single outing to make an offer worth Chelsea's while, I'm not getting my hopes up that we'll manage to find the player a new home. Here's hoping Roman opens up his checkbook to take Erik Thohir out for drinks...