Fernando Torres appeared in front of the mass after training at the ‘Ciudad Deportiva of Majadahonda’ and few hours before leaving to the tour that will take Atletico of Madrid around Germany and China.

At the press conference the red and white captain clarified doubts about his future in the red and white club: “As I already said many times, to me it is a summer like any other one. People talk a lot and at the end I stay another year here. The fans haven’t heard from me that I wanted to leave. I am an Atletico player and I will be until the club and me will want it. I am not waiting for another team and I don’t have any intention to hear another offer. While the wish of the Club and my wish keep being to continue together, I don’t understand why people talk so much about my possible departure”.

“If I’d wanted to go, I would have already done it because I would’ve had a lot of offers. I have to repeat the same message, I feel very comfortable and from now on I haven’t changed my mind. I said it at the beginning of the season, I am an Atletico player, I have a contract and I want to fulfil it”, he added.

The forward assured that the communication between Atletico and I about the offers have been always very free-flowing: “All the offers that have been communicated to the Club, they have been commented to me by them and the other way around too. There has been always a lot of communication, I talk directly with Miguel Angel and there is nothing behind, I know him a lot and we have had always a good communication. The Club didn’t want to hear any offer and neither did I”.

Regarding to the possibilities to negotiate the renewal; Fernando gave priority to the red and white Club: “When you are so many years in the club, everything goes in a mutual agreement. The fact that the club wants me to stay makes me be calm. If Atletico wants to offer me the renewal, it is obvious that it will be the first one who I am going to listen. There is no hurry, I have two more years left and they will be the first team I will listen to. Enrique Cerezo, Miguel Angel and the staff are compromise with the project, we know the effort it is being done and we hope that everything goes well”.

There have been a lot of rumours which have placed the forward far Manzanares for next season. About that Torres clarified that “I never said I wanted to leave, you have been the ones that have put me in several teams and the ones that have said that I have already a home in Milan or London. The truth is that now I’m here. I went to the World Cup as an Atletico player and I came back as an Atletico player”.

There was time to analyze the declaration of Javier Aguirre that made incertitude about the continuity of the forward in the team. About that he clarified that “I read the interview made to Javier Aguirre. The Club is above any player. No player can guarantee his continuity. I read the interview and there is no problem, for me the words are focus very good, a different thing is how you want to interpret them. What the coach said, it is that meanwhile the signing period would have not finished anybody can come or can leave, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to leave”.

Once he clarified the doubts about the future, Torres talked about the energy of the team at the beginning of a new season: “on vacations you have time to forget everything about last season. This year we are with more energy than ever in order to obtain our goals. I think this year the squad is compensated. The coach has a way of playing that is the classic way to play of Atletico of Madrid. We hope to do a good start in the League, that it is the most important thing. As in every preseason, everybody is on”.

“Every summer is different and now we have a lot of illusion. The coach has his thoughts very clear and we hope that this year Atletico gets to the place it deserves. It is a man who knows how to do things well and he has a compensate team and with a lot of energy. We are all waiting to start the season” he commented about the new coach.

Finally, regarding to the opinion of the fans about the rumours of his departure, Fernando recognized that “there are season ticket holders that I see in the street that want me to stay and some others that want me to leave, but it is always like that. If everything goes well, I’m sure that fans don’t want any player to leave”.


Photo: J. A. Sirvent