TEAMtalk : Andre Villas-Boas has claimed Fernando Torres would be mentally weak if he had allowed Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba to intimidate him.
Villas-Boas was confident Torres had not become the latest Blues striker to be “devoured” by Drogba, as Carlo Ancelotti claimed this week.
Ancelotti, who Villas-Boas succeeded as Chelsea manager last summer, insisted Drogba had to be sold for Torres to flourish at Stamford Bridge.
But Villas-Boas rejected Ancelotti’s analysis on Thursday afternoon, saying: “It would be unfair for a player of Fernando’s personality and dimension to conclude that one is inflicting on the other one’s belief.
“If that was the case with any player, it would be a mental weakness or a mental block, which is not the case in my opinion.”
Ancelotti picked Torres ahead of Drogba after the Spaniard’s record-breaking £50million move from Liverpool almost a year ago, but soon recalled his rival.
Villas-Boas began his own reign with Torres as his first-choice striker, but the 27-year-old only began scoring when Drogba was out injured.
He then lost his place again to the Ivorian before being restored to the starting line-up following Drogba’s departure for African Nations Cup duty.
