Fernando Torres has extended his stay with Atletico Madrid, having agreed to a new one-year deal with the club.
The 33-year-old remains with the club that he started his career with after Atletico‘s transfer ban was upheld – preventing them from signing any new players until the January transfer window.
The return of Torres will give Los Rojiblancos a boost, with star player Antoine Griezmann also remaining with the club, keeping Diego Simeone’s 3rd-place-achieving team largely untouched from last season.
Torres also provides Atleti with a player capable of contributing, whilst not relying on him to be a key player.
The Spain international made 31 league appearances last season, but only started in 13 of those matches.
He picked up a decent eight goals and five assists in the process and continues to play an important role when he is on the pitch.
He averaged 1.5 shots, 0.9 coming from inside the penalty area, and 1.5 aerial challenge wins per match last season and is still giving Diego Simeone’s team options up front.
Happy to stay one more year with all of you. Thanks for joining me for so many years ... and the remaining ones#forzaatleti pic.twitter.com/GYRHhVgAoj
— Fernando Torres (@Torres) July 5, 2017
With Atletico Madrid unable to bring in new players until January, the re-signing of Torres is a smart bit of business for the club.
The ban itself reportedly prevented the club from signing Alexandre Lacazette, who has now joined Premier League side Arsenal.
Reports continue to abound that suggest Chelsea’s Diego Costa is set to return to the club in January, but a deal has yet to be agreed and that still leaves Atletico without any new players for five more months.
The loss of such a high-quality striker signing and the long wait to bring another fan favourite back makes Torres’ return much more important.
Torres started his career in Atletico’s youth system, making his first team debut in March 2001.
Since then, Torres racked up 82 goals in 214 league appearances for his boyhood club before moving to Liverpool, where he became an instant favourite and scored 81 goals in 142 total appearances for the English side.
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Torres’ career stumbled after he left Liverpool, joining Chelsea for £50 million.
He joined AC Milan on loan and later permanently before he returned to Atletico scoring 14 goals in 49 league appearances during a two-year loan spell.
Finally, he was granted a permanent return to Madrid last summer – where he will now likely spend the rest of his career.
Reports are also circling that suggest Torres’ manager, Simeone, is close to agreeing to a new three-year deal with the club, with his current contract set to expire at the end of this coming season.
With the Argentinean manager seeing Atletico truly establish themselves as strong competition for Real Madrid and Barcelona, it is imperative that the club holds onto him for as long as they can.
Next: Antoine Griezmann Signs New Atletico Madrid Contract
Keeping club legends around can be a big boost to morale and fan happiness and with Torres’ deal wrapped up and Simeone’s reportedly close to being done, there should be some happier faces around the club over the next few months.