Mancini's side come face to face with Torres and Chelsea today at Stamford Bridge.

"Now he is at Chelsea, but two years ago we were looking at him," Mancini said. "Every striker can have a difficult moment, but Torres is a very good player. For me, he is always dangerous. Even though he had a tough year after leaving Liverpool he still scored some important goals for Chelsea. He helped them win the Champions League last season.

"We were looking at him and some other strikers as well, we particularly wanted someone who would be strong in the air.

"There was a moment when we might have bought Torres but when we heard the price was so high we moved to one of our other targets and brought in Edin Dzeko instead."