Fernando Torres might be starting to regret the things he said about his Chelsea Team mates.

English football is saturated with international players, arguably more than it should be (but that’s a conversation for another time and place), and clubs face a number of challenges when it comes to dealing with such players.

I have written before about language barriers in football, with particular focus on Carlos Tevez’s refusal to learn the English language. This time it’s current Chelsea player, Fernando Torres, who has caused controversy at the club, having recently given an interview in his mother tongue of Spanish. He has since blamed the English translation of the interview for wrongly implying that he said his team mates were ‘old and slow’.

It has been reported that the club is now requesting a copy of the original interview to see if the information has indeed been translated poorly, but I for one will be very interested to find out what the results of the investigation will unveil. Putting my interests of football to one side I want to know just how easy it is for people to blame an incorrect translation when they find themselves in a potentially embarrassing situation.

Of course I’m not saying that translations are always perfect; there are hundreds of examples of incorrect translations. But do people sometimes play on these to their own advantage? If it turns out that the translation of the Torres interview is indeed correct, he’s going to be doubly embarrassed about what he allegedly said and then for subsequently trying to wriggle out of it. If you’re going to say something controversial then surely you should be prepared to stand by what you’ve said when you come under criticism?

When asked how he was going to deal with the situation, Chelsea manager Villas-Boas said, “We’d just talk. Just talk to share opinion. If it was unauthorised, I’d fine him, of course. Anyhow, it’s one player’s perspective.”

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I don’t think there is a person alive that hasn’t said something negative about their place of work at one time or another. It’s just that if the translation turns out to be accurate, Torres should have thought twice before airing his views on such a public platform.

Torres isn’t the first and most likely won’t be the last person to potentially be caught out saying something they really shouldn’t, but whether he is at fault or not will remain to be seen; watch this space…

Update

A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution

Just 3 weeks after writing this blog it would seem that Kia Joorabchian, the agent of Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez is frantically using the ‘incorrect translation’ defence for his prize asset!

After the reported ‘confusion’ that led to Tevez not appearing for City in their Champions league fixture against Bayern Munich, Tevez’s adviser now claims that mistranslation is to blame for the post match interview in which Carlos supposedly stated that he “did not feel right to play, so he didn’t”. After initially claiming that the noise within the Allianz Arena was responsible for the misunderstanding that took place pitch side, Tevez’s agent has now had to come up with an explanation as to why the post match interview failed to show the Argentine striker in an angelic light.

I can’t help thinking that sometimes it is far too easy for people in these situations to use translators as a scapegoat. Are you in agreement?