After much speculation and rumors, confirmation came on Sunday morning that Atletico Madrid have signed former hero Fernando “El Nino” Torres. On December 27th, it was announced that Torres would join A.C. Milan permanently but he then agreed to rejoin his home team on a loan until the end of the 2015-16 season.
Torres joined his former team on January 4th and was presented to a crowd of over 45,000 people at the Vicente Calderon Stadium. His career started with Atletico Madrid back in 1995 with the youth team and he rose through the ranks before making his debut for the Rojiblancos in 2001 in a match against CD Leganés on May 27, 2001. His first goal for the club came a week later against Albacete Balompie, and during his six-year spell at Atletico, Torres made 214 appearances and scored 82 goals to help his team earn promotion to La Liga, which happened in 2002.
After six years with Atletico, Torres joined English Premier League team Liverpool in 2007. In his first season, he showed that he belonged at Liverpool, scoring his first goal on August 19, 2007 against Chelsea and his first hat-trick came on September 25, 2007 against Reading. Being at Liverpool got Torres recognition and he also started playing for the Spanish national team, winning the European Championship in 2008 (where he scored the winning goal in the final) and the FIFA World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. He spent a good four years at Liverpool making 102 appearances and tallying 65 goals for the Reds.
In 2011, Fernando Torres signed with Chelsea F.C. in a fee reported to be around £50 million pounds, which made him the sixth most expensive soccer player in history. Torres’ form, however, suffered greatly while at Stamford Bridge. He went 903 minutes without a goal after joining Chelsea – an 11-game drought with no goals. Torres also faced a three-game suspension twice during his spell at Chelsea and got a total of 3 red cards as well. Overall, his time was a disappointment, with 110 appearances and only 20 goals to show for it.
In August of 2014, Torres joined Serie A club A.C. Milan on a two-year loan deal. He did not get much playing time and was unable to regain his killer touch in front of goal. He ended up signing a permanent deal with Milan and now, with a return to Atletico Madrid, he will be hoping to find the form he once had. With Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Greizmann in the front line, Torres should be a great addition to the Rojiblancos.
(Feature image: AP Photos/Andres Kudacki)
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