Torres, who completed his British record transfer from
Liverpool to Stamford Bridge in January, goes into Sunday's Premier
League clash with Manchester City having failed to score in any of
his six appearances so far for Carlo Ancelotti’s
team.
The struggles endured by the
Spanish forward have prompted comparisons with Ukrainian striker
Shevchenko, who score just 22 goals in 77 appearances for
Chelsea following a £30m transfer from AC
Milan in 2006.
At Chelsea, Shevchenko was unable to reproduce the form which
had earned him a reputation as Europe’s most-feared striker during
his seven-year spell with Milan.
But the 34-year-old is confident that Torres will ultimately
justify his expensive price tag by rediscovering his goal
touch.
“Torres must keep believing in himself and stay calm because the
goals will come.” Shevchenko said.
“He always works hard on the pitch and maybe he shouldn't think
so much about scoring and try too hard to score. If he relaxes,
they will come naturally.
“He just needs to relax. He has proved he is a top player who
can perform and score at the highest levels in the game, so I'm
sure the goals will come again.”
Shevchenko, who helped Dynamo Kiev overcome Manchester City to
reach the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, admits that
Torres must learn how to cope with the pressure of being English
football’s most expensive player.
“I know what that is like.” Shevchenko said. “In England,
everyone puts a lot of pressure on you when you have cost a lot of
money.
“Everyone expects a lot of Torres because the price tag was a
very high, but Chelsea play football in a different way to
Liverpool and he needs time.
“He must not let the pressure get to him. He needs time to adapt
to his new team-mates and the movement of the midfield and the
players around him.
“People have said maybe he will be better next season and it is
true that he certainly needs time to settle.
“But I hope he can score against City on Sunday and, maybe if he
does, the goals will start to flow this season.
“The most important thing is to feel good. If he feels good and
comfortable in the team he will score a lot of goals for
Chelsea.”
Shevchenko added: “I had a hard time at Chelsea mainly because I
was injured much of the time.
“Every time I recovered from one injury, I seemed to get a new
one and it set me back again. I didn't leave Chelsea with bad
memories though.”