AC Milan loanee striker Fernando Torres revealed that the decision to leave Chelsea FC was personal and his own because he wanted to feel important. The writing was on the wall for Fernando Torres near the end of last season as he was benched in favor of Demba Ba or even Andre Schurrle in matches and was sometimes the fourth choice striker.
It was not a familiar role for a player who was once one of the most feared strikers in world football but that was the reality of the situation. In his search for a place to become first choice, Fernando Torres admits that there were talks to rejoin Atletico Madrid but that it “wasn’t a real option”.
That may have something to do with Atletico Madrid’s recent success and their need for a striker of a caliber to match their ambition. For football and not sentimental reason, they could not replace Diego Costa with Fernando Torres and instead brought in Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich. Torres found himself with the option to move to AC Milan, a famous club that has fallen on hard financial times with a need for a famous striker to sell merchandise but without a hefty transfer fee.
Fernando Torres on his decision to leave Chelsea FC and the possibility of returning to Atletico Madrid:
"“Mourinho has always been good to me. The decision to leave was a personal one because I needed more, I needed to feel important. Mourinho and I have a good relationship and still today we continue to talk to each other.”“There wasn’t a real option to return. They speculated with it and I didn’t like that. I’ve said it many times, I won’t go to Atletico to retire. I will go if I have motivation to compete because the Atletico of today is very different than when I was there. I follow them every weekend. It [returning] is an option that isn’t real.”Source: Sky Sports"
When Fernando Torres was at Atletico Madrid they had just earned promotion from the second division and were never title contenders. They are a club transformed under Diego Simeone and they are legitimate contenders once again after winning the La Liga title last season. Torres needed a club that matched his ambitions and his decreased talent and he has found a good fit in AC Milan. He still gets to play for a high profile club and they get a big name player to lead the line, even if he is past his prime. The decision may have been personal for Fernando Torres but in the end it was good business for all parties involved.