Torres: I left Chelsea to feel important

Posted Friday, October 31, 2014 by Goal.com

The Spaniard stressed he parted ways with Jose Mourinho on good terms but that he wanted to leave this summer, while also denying Atletico Madrid were ever an option

Fernando Torres says he ditched Chelsea this summer for AC Milan because he did not feel important at Stamford Bridge.

The striker joined the Blues for what was in January 2011 a British record transfer fee of £50 million (€63m), having seen his remarkable early standards at Liverpool suffer a dip.

Torres failed to return to his goalscoring peak and never truly justified his pricetag during his three and a half years at the west London side.

After Chelsea signed in-form forward Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid ahead of the 2014-15 season, Torres opted to join Milan on a two-year loan deal, and has now claimed the decision was not motivated by any falling-out with Jose Mourinho.

"Mourinho has always been good to me," Torres told Cuatro. "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."

Speculation was rife during the summer that Torres could return to Atletico this summer but the 30-year-old claims such a move was never an option.

"There wasn’t a genuine option to return," he added. "The media speculated 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 their team today is very different than when I was there.

"I follow them every weekend, but they were never an option that were real."

Torres has scored once in seven appearances for Filippo Inzaghi's men during an inconsistent start to the season for the Rossoneri.