CHEEKY NANDOS RAFA?
FERNANDO TORRES is eyeing a Premier League swansong – putting Newcastle and Southampton on red alert.
The 33-year-old hitman has started just two games for Atletico Madrid this season, one in La Liga and one in the Copa del Rey.
And with strike ace Diego Costa eligible to play in the new year following his return from Chelsea, the Spaniard knows his chances of game time in the second half of the campaign will diminish still further.
Representatives of Torres have let his desire to leave Atletico on loan in January be known to Toon manager Rafa Benitez and Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino.
And he is hoping one of them will come up with a tasty package that will convince Atletico to let him spend the rest of the season back in England.
Torres has 18 months remaining on his contract with the Madrid outfit and he hopes to spend next term with his hometown club. He plans to retire at the end of his deal and wants his last season before hanging up his boots to be with Atletico, regardless of how much action he does or doesn’t see.
However, Torres is desperate to play as much as he can for the remainder of this campaign and is adamant he can still do a job in the Premier League.
He and Benitez are close after their time together at Liverpool – the former Reds boss paid £26.5million to take him to Anfield in 2007.
And he also knows Pellegrino well from the Argentinian’s time on Benitez’s coaching staff on Merseyside.
Superb
Any club loaning Torres for the rest of the season would have to pay part of his £2.2m salary.
Torres was superb during his time at Liverpool, scoring 65 goals in 113 topflight appearances for the club.
At Chelsea, following a £50m move in January 2011, he helped win the FA Cup, the Champions League and Europa League – but managed just 20 Premier League goals for the Blues in 148 appearances.