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20 More Things That Cost the Same as Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres
This vase is neck and neck with Torres in the goal-scoring charts (Img: VeronikaB)

Last January, Football Burp brought you 20 Things That Cost the Same as Fernando Torres, half-expecting it to immediately precede the Chelsea striker making us look rather foolish by recapturing the blistering form of his Liverpool days.

Fast forward one year, and watching the Spaniard zoom past two Arsenal defenders before lousily miscontrolling into the arms of a grateful Wojciech Szczęsny, we found ourselves asking: what else can fifty million of Her Majesty’s pounds get you these days? As such, here are twenty recent examples of Things That Cost the Same as Fernando Torres (click on the Thing in question to read more about it)…

1. Rangers.

2. The UK’s first genomic centre for cancer research.

3. First option on a 16in tall vase that was made for Chinese emperor Qianlong (who ruled from 1736 to 1795) and was then looted from the Imperial Summer Palace during raids by the British and French in 1860.

4. The total unpaid tax and redundancy costs that the government agreed to pay the 6,600 staff left jobless after the collapse of electronics chain Comet.

5. A regeneration of the Old Street roundabout in east London, which will see it transformed into Europe’s largest indoor civic space, dedicated to start-ups and entrepreneurs.

6. The total savings over the last year following a Whitehall blitz on greenhouse gas emissions, unnecessary waste and water consumption.

7. The total invested in Scotland’s young people through CashBack for Communities on the fifth anniversary of the programme’s launch.

8. 351 buses and 28 coaches from transport giant Stagecoach.

9. The projected revenue of pet food firm MPM Products in three years’ time.

10. The amount owed to Pawnbroker H&T Group at the end of December.

11. The hit to Scottish tourism during the late summer of 2012 thought to have been caused by poor weather and the Olympics.

12. The Scottish government’s pledge for affordable housing.

13. The amount seized in Scotland under Proceeds of Crime law for a scheme to help kids and young people.

14. The reopening of a tungsten mine near Plymouth.

15. The amount returned to the Treasury by the end of the financial year in March due to the delay in the A5 Western Transport Corridor project.

16. A retail development that will restore listed buildings at the historic Castlebawn site in Newtownards.

17. A Royal Bank of Scotland IT failure.

18. A retail and office space accommodating up to 1,500 workers in Glasgow City Centre.

19. Three years’ worth of “golden handshakes” from the Welsh government.

20. The amount wasted per year by motorists leaving their engines running while defrosting their windscreens.

Can you think of anything else that cost the same as Fernando Torres? Have your say in the comments section below…