Dubai: AC Milan midfielders Sulley Muntari and Nigel De Jong have said they will be sad to see Fernando Torres leave for Atletico Madrid, but both agreed it was for the good of his career.
It was confirmed on Saturday that the 30-year-old Spanish striker would make his loan move from Chelsea to AC Milan permanent on January 5, despite the fact he has only scored once since moving to Italy in the summer. However, it is believed Torres will then go out on loan to his boyhood team Atletico in exchange for Italian winger Alessio Cerci.
AC Milan’s friendly against Real Madrid at The Sevens stadium in Dubai on Tuesday could be Torres’ last game for the Serie A giants. It could also be ironic preparation for the fallen star, because if he does join Los Rojiblancos, his long-awaited homecoming would be against city rivals Real at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey’s round of 16 on January 8.
“It’s a pity that he’s leaving because he’s one of the top players,” said Ghana international Muntari on the sidelines of the Dubai Football Challenge preview interviews on Sunday. “Aside from being a great player, he’s also a great man and a really, really great lad.
“We’ve had a great six months with him, but that’s part of football, you get moved to another club and exchanged like food, it’s normal, it’s part of it. I just wish him luck and hope that he becomes the Torres we all know he is.”
Torres joined Chelsea from Liverpool for £50 million (Dh2.85 billion) in January 2011 in what was then a British transfer record. But he failed to replicate the prolific goalscoring form that had made him a household name at both Atletico Madrid and Liverpool. He was loaned out to AC Milan in the summer in a bid to revive his career, but it hasn’t worked, making his return to Atletico possibly his last shot at redemption.
“I’m not entirely surprised to see Fernando go,” said Dutch international and former Manchester City enforcer De Jong. “He’s not been playing for us in the last couple of games, but he’s a great player still and he can play very well for a team.
“Obviously Milan was not his team at the moment to perform well, so I hope he will have a great time again at Atletico because that’s where he comes from and I hope he finds his form and scores goals again.
“I’ve been training with him week in, week out — he’s such a hard worker and so we all believe he has it in him to still score goals, but it’s on him to show us that he’s a still a great, world class player. Maybe in the next couple of weeks we can all see that at Atletico.”
AC Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi failed to clear up confusion surrounding Torres’ future when asked by media.
“Torres for Cerci would be a good deal, but still nothing is confirmed,” said Inzaghi. “Torres is still an AC Milan player, we are not here to speak about the market, I will let [AC Milan vice president and chief executive officer] Mr. [Adriano] Galliani speak about the company.”
In an ironic twist, Torres will appear on stage with Atletico Madrid chief executive officer Miguel Angel Marin at the Dubai International Sports Conference at Atlantis, The Palm, on Monday, no doubt dodging questions on his future.
