FERNANDO TORRES CAREER PATH BECOMES CLEAR AFTER OFFER TO 'SHADOW' JURGEN KLOPP AT LIVERPOOL

Fernando Torres is set to take the next step in his managerial career and accept a promotion to become reserve team manager at Atletico Madrid.

Torres has been head coach of Atleti’s under-19s side since July 2021, having retired from playing in 2019 at the age of 35. The former Liverpool striker has been successful in the early stages of his career, winning two league titles with the Atleti youngsters.

The 40-year-old is ambitious and it had initially looked as though he would leave his boyhood club in order to develop further as a coach. He had been invited to shadow Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool for a week and Atleti were concerned they would lose him permanently.

Torres had reportedly decided to leave the club at the end of the 2023/24 season, but it seems he has now changed his mind after receiving a new offer. AS report that he will take over from Luis Tevenet as the manager of Atletico Madrid’s B team.

Tevenet has done a fine job, achieving two promotions in three seasons, but has not been offered a new contract. It is a measure of how highly Atleti regard Torres that they have decided to promote him and lose another of their former players in the process.

Torres’ under-19s side beat rivals Real Madrid to the league title and he also took them to the final four of the UEFA Youth League. Torres made 398 appearances and scored 129 goals for Atleti across two spells with the club and is revered as a legend at the Wanda Metropolitano.

There is a suggestion that, over time, he could take over from Diego Simeone in the top job. Simeone has been in charge of Atleti’s first team since 2011 and, although they have not enjoyed a great campaign, his job is understood to be safe provided they finish in the top four of La Liga. They are currently fourth, three points ahead of Athletic Club with six games left.

Torres’ status at Atleti is shown by the words of former Atletico coach Armando de la Morena, who gave him a glowing review in 2022. "A coach like Fernando, knowing his career a bit, as a player and always with the respect that he has acted, has the conditions to be a great coach," De la Morena told AS. "Because of how he expresses himself, the serenity that he has, the calm.

"I know it from the players too, who tell me wonders about him, how he transmits, how he gives them the concepts. So what I see in him is that if everything is going the right way, then we have a future coach for Spanish football and for Atletico and hopefully for the national team as well – whatever what he wants."

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2024-04-25T04:07:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd