EPL Transfer News & Rumors: Fernando Torres Unwanted by AC Milan & Chelsea, May End up With Napoli
Serie A club AC Milan may be trying to cut ties with Spanish striker Fernando Torres, according to British publication The Mirror, who was loaned out by English Premier League (EPL) leaders Chelsea after a disappointing tenure with the Italian league team.
AC Milan, currently in seventh place in the Italian league standings, seems willing to let Torres return to Chelsea after having only scored one goal the entire 2014-2015 Serie A season in 10 appearances, having lost his playing time Jeremy Menez, who has seven goals for the year. The issue is that Torres may not be welcomed to Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea currently loaded at the striker position after "The Blues" signed Diego Costa, Loic Remy and Didier Drogba during the summer transfer window.
Chelsea paid Liverpool £50 million ($78.5 million USD) for "El Niño" prior to the 2011-2012 EPL season and was by plagued injuries as well as a lack of production. Torres scored only five EPL goals last season before he was shipped to Milan.
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While Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho pointed out that there is no room for Torres on the team even if AC Milan returns him to the club, he also denied he has had any contact with Italian club during his Friday press conference.
"He's our player but he's on loan. We have no space for players in the list, either in the Champions League or Premier League. That's an impossible picture," said Mourinho. "I have to say, nobody from AC Milan made contact with us thinking about that possibility, so probably nothing is true and, more than possibly, he's happy at Milan and Milan to have him."
Even if Torres does depart San Siro to head back to London, his stay with Chelsea may not last long, with the English club believed to be willing to offer to him on loan for free to any club willing to pay his salary.
British newspaper the Daily Mail believes that Napoli, sitting in fifth place in the Serie A standings, may have an interest in signing Torres on loan. Napoli is coached by Rafael Benitez, who signed the Spaniard when he coached Liverpool and again with Chelsea for a six month stretch, seems willing to help Torres resurrect his career, giving him a six-month tryout for the rest of the Serie A season if he is willing to play off the bench and back up Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain.
"If you want to see the real Nino [Torres], then you have to wait. The current Torres is not the one we all knew," said Demetrio Albertin, former AC Milan legend and ex-teammate of Torres at La Liga's Atletico Madrid. "He is coming off two seasons in which he played very little, so it's not easy to find oneself after that. Fernando must be aware of what he has gone through, he must rediscover self-confidence and belief in himself not just through words but through action."
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