Should Atletico Madrid Keep Fernando Torres After His Loan Deal Expires?

Back at his club, his city, his manor, there has been little doubt that a return to Atletico Madrid has had a revitalising effect on Fernando Torres after his struggles at Chelsea and AC Milan.

The World Cup and double European Championship winner is surely never going to reach the heights he reached when he was arguably the best forward in world football following his move to Liverpool in 2007, but he at least seems to have a smile on his face again, something that was curiously absent for a few years.

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Torres—who scored 81 goals in 142 Liverpool appearances in three-and-a-half seasons at Anfield, compared to 54 in 202 club appearances since, per WhoScored.com—is now entering the twilight seasons of his career. He’ll be 32 in March, a time when his future has to be considered.

And that future isn’t for discussion at the moment, according to Atletico president Enrique Cerezo.

As reported by ESPN FC’s Dermot Corrigan, Cerezo told AS that he’s only going to consider Torres’ position at the end of the season, when his loan deal from Milan ends.

“Torres is our player, he is here, he is an emblem of this team and will always be loved at Atletico,” said Cerezo. “When his contract ends we will see what he thinks, what we think, what we want to do.

“[Diego Simeone] is in charge and he always wants to get the best out of everyone. Torres has the advantage that he is very loved by our fans.”

But is that love enough?

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The summer signing of Jackson Martinez hinted that Simeone wanted to create a partnership between the Colombian and the exciting Antoine Griezmann, a player who could stand on the precipice of entering that elite group of players just below Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, so is Torres hindering that now?

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In addition, as Corrigan points out, Atletico also have the likes of Angel Correa, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Luciano Vietto at the club, as well as Rafael Santos Borre joining for next season. Where would Torres fit into that situation?

The prospect of Simeone keeping the Spain international at the club as a kind of well-paid cheerleader who will both raise morale and help educate the young players can’t be ruled out, but Torres still has a couple of years of playing in him, so would he want such a role?

As he’s shown at times both this season and last—when he made an instant impact with goals against Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Copa del Rey—he does still know where the net is, but relying on him to spearhead the attack of a team chasing glory in both the Champions League and La Liga might not be advisable, and Simeone should know that.

Torres’ form and fitness have been questioned since he limped off late in Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Benfica in a Europa League quarter-final clash in April 2010.

He was consequently ruled out for the rest of the season but was rushed back to play in that summer's World Cup despite clearly not being fully fit. He contributed to Spain’s success in South Africa but certainly not in the way he’d have intended to.

The £50 million Liverpool banked to let Torres go to Chelsea six months later has ended up looking like a great piece of business, but it shouldn’t be forgotten just how good he used to be.

Should, as would appear most likely, Atletico decide not to keep Torres around for next season, then it would be great to see him follow in the footsteps of the likes of Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Kaka and Andrea Pirlo and try his luck in MLS.

There he’d be seen as yet another star addition to the division at a time when it is growing and giving its players enjoyable ends to their careers.

And Torres, even though he’d miss the adulation of Atletico, surely deserves that.