Transfer News – Fernando Torres To Extend Stay At Atletico Madrid By One More Year

Following a late-season run of form with Champions’ League finalists Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone has decided to reward Fernando Torres with a contract extension that will see him stay at the Vicente Calderon for another year.

Atletico Madrid’s prodigal son, Fernando Torres is reportedly set to spend another year with his boyhood club, with Diego Simeone prepared to issue a contract extension to the Spanish striker. Torres enjoyed a good run of form towards the end of the 2015-16 season and showcased glimpses of his murderous finishing ability that made him one of the world’s most feared strikers at Liverpool.

Torres, who is an A.C Milan player at the moment, will become a free-agent come the end of this month after the Italian club opted to severe ties with the striker. The Spaniard originally rejected Atletico’s proposal of extending his loan spell at the club since the option was conditional.

However, Radio Marca now claim the striker has reached an agreement with the Rojiblancos having been offered a one-year contract sealing a transfer from the Italian to the Spanish capital. Official confirmation is yet to come from the Champions League runners-up but it appears that Torres will spend his 10th season in the capital after scoring 12 times in 44 appearances in all competitions last season.

Can El Nino get back to his old ways with Atletico?

Torres was immense for Atleti towards the end of their campaign last season especially during his side’s dream Champions’ League run where they eventually lost out to cross-town rivals Real Madrid in the final. His end-season form was effectively a friendly reminder of his incredible finishing ability and was a throwback to his Liverpool days where the 32-year-old probably enjoyed the best form of his career.

Since making a much-maligned £50 million switch from Liverpool to Chelsea in 2011, Torres’ career has ceased to even remotely touch the heights he so effortlessly scaled at Anfield. However, unlike his time at Merseyside, he enjoyed most of his trophy success with Chelsea lifting the Champions’ League, Europa League and the FA Cup representing the Blues. Having netted 81 goals in just 145 games for Liverpool, Torres managed to score only 45 times in 172 appearances for Chelsea in a Stamford Bridge career spanning three years.  His struggle for form continued ever since with the Spaniard enduring a barren spell at A.C Milan where he slotted in a solitary goal in only 10 appearances for the Italians.

If Torres’ 2015-16 campaign was anything to go by, he has the best chance of matching his erstwhile form under the management of a motivational figure like Diego Simeon,e in a premise quite as nostalgic and emotional as home, the Vicente Calderon.

Torres has come the full circle since leaving Atletico as a promising young player to Liverpool, where he built his reputation as one of the most deadliest strikers in the world, to having a promising career pushed towards a downward spiral, to devastating lows, following his moves to Chelsea and A.C Milan and finally re-inventing it at his boyhood club again. The striker has worked hard to milk the last ounce of football left in him before he entertains the thoughts of hanging up his boots and it is that spirit that is fueling his revival at Atletico Madrid.