Villas-Boas stands by Torres

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas claimed he would still pay £50million for Fernando Torres, despite the striker's form in front of goal since his record-breaking move from Liverpool.

Torres has scored just five times in 30 matches for his new club, a statistic that is likely to be leapt upon by his former supporters when the Reds travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

But Villas-Boas insisted Torres had improved since flopping on his February debut against the same opponents, and said: "It's not bad. It's not just a question of numbers and goalscoring. It's about how you make your team perform around you."

Indeed, Villas-Boas highlighted the number of assists Torres had provided since the Portuguese took over as manager this summer.

"He's one of the best (with) assists at the club - four or five," he said.

"He's assisting people and the team are getting wins out of it.

"Sometimes we don't get all the wins we wanted, but we get the goalscoring opportunities for us to win games."

Asked whether Torres was still a £50million player and if he would pay the same money for him today, Villas-Boas was unequivocal.

"Of course," he said.