Arsene Wenger believes Chelsea paid more than they should have done in buying Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50million last month.

Torres, 26, made the controversial switch from Anfield to Stamford Bridge at the end of the January transfer window after frantic speculation.

But so far Torres has not found his feet at his new club, and, even his custom-made Fernando Torres Boots on, he has failed to hit the target in any of his three appearances – including on his debut, a 1-0 home defeat to his old club.

Wenger himself resisted the temptation to buy any new players during the winter window despite his side battling for four different trophies.

And he hinted at one of his main reasons for doing so – saying he believes Chelsea were forced to pay at least £7million more than they should have done because of the timing of the move.

‘Torres was a last-minute transfer and, as a result, Chelsea had to pay for it,’ he said.

‘We can estimate that Chelsea paid an additional amount for Torres, about 15 per cent.

‘Emotion and a lack of time saw the market value become inflated.’