Atletico Madrid Offer Fernando Torres Last Chance Back Where It All Began

They say never go back. Sometimes, of course, you have no choice. 

On Monday, Atletico Madrid confirmed the return of Fernando Torres on a long-term loan from AC Milan, with misfit forward Alessio Cerci set to go in the opposite direction on similar terms. Both players move after failing to settle at their previous clubs, but it is only Torres in whom many observers are really interested.

Milan, who previously only had Torres on loan from Chelsea, made the arrangement permanent on Saturday, enabling the club to then offload him (and his sizeable wages) without causing issues surrounding FIFA regulations. The lengths Milan had to go to in order to pass off Torres (after less than six months of his services) should offer a pointed reminder of the striker’s recent struggles, but for the player and his new club, it is an emotional return.

Torres, after all, is something of an Atletico Madrid icon. Having joined the club’s youth system as an 11-year-old, Torres was named club captain by the time he was 19, eventually commanding a £20 million fee from Liverpool to prise him away from the Vicente Calderon after 91 goals in 244 games for the club.

Chelsea would eventually double that price in order to lure the Spaniard to Stamford Bridge, as the striker’s combination of pace, direct running, determination and eye for goal proved well-suited to life in the Premier League.

A £50 million player not even four years ago, it is a measure of just how far Torres has fallen since then that not only have Chelsea allowed him to leave, permanently, for no transfer fee, but that AC Milan have then loaned him out for nothing to also remove him from the wage bill for the next 18 months.

Having moved to the Rossoneri in the summer to try to revive a career that had fallen apart at Stamford Bridge, Torres seemingly found the new surroundings equally difficult—although perhaps Italian football, with its patient build-up and well-drilled defences, was never likely to suit his particular skill set.

He managed just a solitary goal in 10 Serie A appearances for Milan, where his runs were never picked out and his hold-up play was too poor to make him an effective lead striker. Now it is Atletico who hope they can restore Torres to his former glory, although perhaps even they do not foresee him usurping Mario Mandzukic as the club's No. 1 option.

“He will be a very important reinforcement for the second half of the season,” Simeone’s assistant, German Burgos, said last week (via Sky Sports). “We will get the best out of him, the same as everyone, and he knows where he is coming to.”

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It is confidence that seems to be Torres’ biggest problem, which is perhaps why Atletico are confident the 30-year-old is not beyond salvation. Back in his home town, at a club he knows inside out and has nothing but fond memories of, Atletico obviously feel the circumstances will invigorate him.

Considering Torres himself described the return as a “dream” on Monday, it is obvious he agrees.

The gamble is obviously all Atletico’s. AC Milan are laughing: Having inadvertently saddled themselves with another disappointing, expensive forward so soon after managing to sell Mario Balotelli, the club will be confident that Cerci—a player with a strong record in Serie A—will prove a far more reliable and productive member of their squad.

Cerci never managed to fit in at Atletico, so in that regard he is hardly a loss to the Spanish side. Financially, however, the economic risk is on Atletico’s side, with the club now on the hook for Torres’ vast wages even if it proves that he really, undoubtedly is beyond salvation.

That is where Diego Simeone comes in. Los Colchoneros’ coach has worked a number of miracles during his managerial career already—how hard could one involving Torres be?

"Torres has got it all, but has lost his way a bit and is struggling to score goals," Fabio Capello said on Monday (per Goal.com). "He has lost the confidence he had at Liverpool and during his first stint at Atletico.

"Simeone is going to make Torres come good. It is not only to do with systems: it is a confidence thing. 

"Torres has become a bit subdued but is going to rediscover what he has lost thanks to [Simeone], who is going to reinvigorate him."

At Chelsea many believed the problem became a mental one, that his struggles stemmed from the price tag paid for him, the expectations that came with such a figure and the scrutiny that, especially once his record in front of goal started slipping, he could never escape from.

“I don’t think a sad person can work the way he does, can be as professional as he is,” Jose Mourinho said (via The Guardian) in the summer. “He works so hard, is so professional, is so stable in his personal life. I don’t see a sad man.

“But when I speak about happiness, I mean football happiness. Football feeling: more self-confidence, not the need to feel under pressure, not to feel he has to deliver and that all eyes are on him because of a big transfer fee. All these kind of things.”

AC Milan, Mourinho thought, might give him “a different start,” where he could be “happier than he was in the last couple of years.” But Torres seemed to be the same player in Italy he had been in his final seasons at Stamford Bridge, with lingering issues with confidence compounded by his struggles to adapt to a different style of play.

There were flickers of his old threat, but those were more than obscured by the times when he looked like a duck out of water as game after game passed him by.

Going back to Atletico Madrid removes those reasons, or those excuses for his poor play. The safety net ceases to exist: After an initial grace period while he readjusts to his familiar surroundings, he will be expected to start scoring again at something approaching his old rates—or it will simply be taken as evidence that his powers have gone for good, rather than temporarily been mislaid.

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Torres left the Vicente Calderon a thoroughbred; he returns (in the minds of many) a donkey.

Most donkeys are not fortunate enough to be re-homed somewhere they have fond memories. It will be interesting to see if Torres rediscovers some of his former brilliance back at the club where it all began for him.

If he does, it would be another impressive achievement to add to Simeone’s growing list of them—and offer a happy ending to what has been one of the most surprising and painful declines in recent memory.