According to his critics, Rafa Benítez is a power-hungry, money-wasting, self-obsessive, unfit to manage at the very highest level. Yet it appears that in selecting who should next be in charge of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich has decided to put his faith in those who have more positive things to say about the Spaniard, and, perhaps, one person in particular.

"Rafa Benítez has been the most important coach in my career. He has been the only one who knew how to help me improve. His priority is the team but he adapts the conditions to make everyone fit in the team. That's his secret. He taught me a lot and thanks to him I matured as a professional."

These are the words Fernando Torres shared with Esquire magazine in November 2011, 10 months after he joined Chelsea from Liverpool for a record £50m fee and during a period of 25 games in which the striker failed to score for club or country. That drought is typical of the general malaise Torres has endured throughout his time at Stamford Bridge, one that will have caused Abramovich much frustration and fury given how much time, energy and money he spent on luring the 28-year-old to west London. Upon weighing up who could replace Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea manager it is perhaps not a surprise the Russian seems to have decided to turn to the man who has got the most out of "El Niño".

Under Benítez's guidance, Torres scored 33 goals in 46 appearances during his first season at Anfield, 17 goals in 38 appearances in his second and, in their third and final campaign together, 24 goals in 32 appearances, completing a transformation from the raw and less-than-prolific 23-year-old who arrived on Merseyside from Atlético Madrid for a little more than £20m in July 2007 to one of the world's most feared centre-forwards.

It would be over-simplistic to believe Benítez can coax the same amount of stardust from Torres now given the injuries and palpable slump in confidence the player has endured since he and his compatriot were last together – and should Chelsea succeed in their pursuit of Didier Drogba, the Spain international may find his chances to shine under Benítez restricted anyway – but as Abramovich surveys Torres's struggles in blue, with a nadir reached in Tuesday's defeat at Juventus when Di Matteo decided to leave the striker on the bench and instead start with Eden Hazard up front, it may have seemed obvious to try one last time to revive the £50m man's fortunes.

As any Valencia or Liverpool supporter will point out, however, Benítez's skills stretch far beyond his ability to get the best out of Torres. This, after all, is a man who over nine years won two La Liga titles, the Uefa Cup, the Champions League and the FA Cup, and came within four points of clinching the Premier League. He is, in other words, a high-class manager and it has been rather absurd that since his sacking by Internazionale in 2010 following an unsuccessful attempt to walk in the crater-like footsteps José Mourinho left at San Siro, that Benítez has only been linked with vacancies at clubs such as Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanders. With all due respect, he is above that.

To some extent, Benítez has been the victim of a myth and propaganda campaign that built up around him following his acrimonious departure from Liverpool in June 2010, just as the club was beginning to burn at the hands of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. He was depicted as a poor manager having guided Liverpool to seventh in his last campaign there, with the critics forgetting his second-place finish from the season before, and also as someone with a failed record in the transfer market, a claim that focuses on the mistakes and conveniently forgets the successes, such as Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Javier Mascherano and Torres.

Some criticism of Benítez's record is fair. There is, for instance, no doubt that he is a political animal whose desire for control and maximum say can cause schism at a club – Benítez is the man who detested Hicks yet sided with the Texan during Anfield's civil war because he figured it would strengthen his position and lead, as it did, to the exit of Rick Parry as the chief executive – and this makes Abramovich's decision to call the 52-year-old from his hibernation on the Wirral rather curious. For the Chelsea owner has proven himself a man of firm opinions and little diplomacy and, in attempting to rescue Chelsea's season, he has opted for someone who sees the same character when he looks in the mirror. Fireworks between the pair are practically guaranteed.

But Benítez is a winner and has proven his ability to get the best out of Torres, and while Abramovich waits for Pep Guardiola he has clearly decided Benítez represents his next, best go-to man. Moving to Chelsea offers Benítez the return to high-level management he has been waiting for since leaving Inter.