Atletico Madrid skipper Fernando Torres has told Revista
Manchester United DID try to sign him in the summer.
United, who sold their No. 1 striker Ruud van Nistelrooy to Real
Madrid, were hot on the Spanish golden boy, but so were his current
employers - and the feeling was mutual.
Torres could have left the Vicente Calderon and made millions in
the process but instead he agreed a 12-month contract extension in
a bid to ward off a host of Europe's top clubs - for now.
Both the player and his club accept he will leave eventually -
certainly before his contract is up in 2009 - and Sir Alex Ferguson
is said to be in pole position to claim his signature.
But Torres is in no rush to go and has made it clear he will only
depart when it is convenient for all parties involved, which means
Fergie and everybody else will have to wait.
"Well, there was interest (from United) and when there is interest
it gets put to Atletico," the 22-year-old said. "They are the ones
who have the last word and I don't know anymore about it.
"I know other players have gone to Italy and England. But I told
the club they were the ones who had to decide if they wanted to
keep me or not.
"After the World Cup many teams came in for me but this is a way to
show the trust that exists between the club and myself. This should
calm things down and hopefully this year nobody will talk about my
future."
The darling of the Atletico faithful, Torres, who came up through
the youth ranks, has been the club's leading scorer in each of the
last four seasons and is without a doubt their prize asset.
He had been tracked by a host of sides over the summer, with AC and
Inter Milan, Spurs and United all putting serious offers on the
table, but still he and Atletico could not be parted.
In fact, with millions of pounds just a signature away, he was more
than happy to commit himself to coach Javier Aguirre's plans and
their relatively modest short-term ambition - European
football.
