Football: Fernando Torres to return to Atletico Madrid

AC Milan's forward from Spain Fernando Torres (left) takes a shot during the Italian Serie A football match at the San Siro Stadium stadium in Milan on Oct 26, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP
AC Milan's forward from Spain Fernando Torres (left) takes a shot during the Italian Serie A football match at the San Siro Stadium stadium in Milan on Oct 26, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP

Madrid (Xinhua) - Striker Fernando Torres will return to Atletico Madrid, the club where he began his football career after the Spanish side reached agreement with English Premier League club Chelsea over a loan deal until the end of June 2016.

The complicated deal sees Torres leave AC Milan, where he has been on loan since the start of the current campaign, with Atletico striker Alessio Cerci almost certainly moving in the other direction according to reports in Spain.

The 30-year-old Torres, who is from the town of Fuenlabrada in the south of Madrid, has always been an Atletico fan. He left the club where he began his career to sign for Liverpool in 2007 and netted 61 goals in 102 league appearances.

He subsequently joined Chelsea in 2011 for a then British record fee of £50 million (S$103 million) but failed to reproduce the form that made him a world-class striker. He scored just 20 times in 110 EPL games for the Blues.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho let him move to Milan in the summer, but he netted once in the Serie A.

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