Mourinho: Torres will benefit from competition at Chelsea

The Blues' manager believes his Spanish striker will be happy and can benefit now that there is a battle for places at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that competition for places up front next season can only benefit striker Fernando Torres.

After initially struggling at Stamford Bridge following his 50 million pound move from Liverpool, the Spain striker appears to be on his way back to rediscovering his best form, scoring 27 times in all competitions last season.

However, Torres was vying solely with Demba Ba for a starting spot in the latter half of the campaign - something Mourinho belives did the forward no favors.

"I think Fernando should be happy, because we have competition in the team, and that is good for everybody in every position," Mourinho told reporters. "I think Fernando will be pleased because during his time at Chelsea he was basically the only striker and then after that there was the arrival of Ba in January.

"Now the team has three (other) strikers, and that is good."

Mourinho has added Andre Schurrle to his squad from Bayer Leverkusen ahead of the new Premier League season, while Romelu Lukaku - who scored 18 times on loan at West Brom last term - is back at Stamford Bridge.