Madrid, Dec 12 (IANS) Star striker Fernando Torres says he has no intention of leaving Atletico Madrid in January.

Torres came up through the Atletico youth system before moving to Liverpool and Chelsea, before returning to the club he has always supported since childhood in 2015, reports Xinhua news agency.

Now on the fringes of the side, but still popular with the fans, the 33-year-old knows his place is under threat when Diego Costa and Vitolo are included in the squad when the transfer window opens and the FIFA transfer ban on the club is lifted.

Atletico already have four strikers. Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro, Luciano Vietto and Torres and either Vietto or Torres will have to go to allow Costa to take his place in the squad. However, Torres has no intention of leaving the club he loves.

“I came back in January 2015, my loan ended and people said they were not going to give me a contract, but I ended up playing. Then in 2016 they only offered me a year’s contract and I was going to be first choice, but then they signed Kevin Gameiro, although I played a lot of games… Now Diego Costa is returning and it will be hard for me to play, but it’s always been like that,” he said in an interview with Spanish sports publication Diario AS.

“Pulling on the Atletico shirt makes everything worthwhile, but I have done so through my own merits – through fighting to wear it. A lot of fans told me that when I began aged 17 I gave them hope and I am back to finish what I started. After all of the efforts I have made to play, I am not going to throw in the towel,” Torres commented.

“When I returned nobody thought I would play, but I ended as first choice… I am here through my own merits and through my performances,” he insisted.

–IANS
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