hachejay

I was wondering similar myself actually after watching the new adidas promotions for the 2013/14 kit... I can hardly be the only one to notice the prominence of Torres and the absence of Lampard in it, and while one can read into that what they want, it more made me ponder the marketability and brand value that Torres actually is to RA and the club.
 
Now, Torres is not as impressive a figure as he once was, but he is still and incredibly popular player with huge appeal internationally as well. He's a clean-cut, good looking, well mannered striker that has one two European championships and the world cup scoring in all competetions and 2 finals... he is an internationally well known figure with huge appeal at a time when Chelsea are looking to drive into foreign markets to promote the brand and is young enough still to spearhead that.
 
A few years back he sold more shirts than anyone else in the country, possibly the world, and while Chelsea refused to comment in the last survey on who sells the most shirts now, at the last check it was still Torres. The first year he arrived he sold more shirts in the last half of that season than drogba or lampard (the next two most popular) did in the entire season.
 
Chelsea are now the 4th biggest seller of shirts in the world (after united, Barcelona and real) pushing coming on for a billion units a year and growing. If Torres maintained his popular status and continued to sell like that, selling maybe, 10 to 15% of the shirts (just guessing outloud here) then at 55 quid a pop your actually getting a good chunk of those wages back from him. Through in other merchandise sales and the fact that his popularity makes him a walking talking billboard for the club than I don't know that he doesn't start to seem like a reasonable person to keep around.
 
I dunno, i'm just thinking off my head here and I am no football economics expert by any means.
 
As a player investment... obviously very poor... as a brand investment... he's actually pretty damn good if you ask me.
 
Anyway, feel free to tell me what a crock of sh*te i'm talking... just food for thought for yall!