FERNANDO TORRES will be asked to choose between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool when he returns to pre-season training in Spain next month.
The Reds target is on holiday until July 10, but has let it be known he would relish a move to Anfield.
But Atletico are determined to dig their heels in and force their 23-year-old captain to ask for a transfer.
Rafa Benitez, however, will have been encouraged by comments from Atletico’s majority shareholder, Gil Marin, who said: “Nobody is indispensable. We are trying to create a competitive team and no player by himself, very good though he is, is able to make a team achieve its aims.
“Atletico are building a team that does not revolve around Fernando Torres but around the team as a whole. I would be delighted if Fernando were to continue here, but the future is going to be decided by Fernando himself.
“We have spoken to him and told him we would like him to stay. It is normal that he has doubts. It is normal that the offers and everything surrounding them has made him think.
“Torres knows that Atletico want him and if Fernando wants to continue at Atletico, he is going to continue.”
The Reds have spoken to Atletico, but cannot reach agreement on a valuation for the player. There is a clause in Torres’ contract allowing him to leave if a club offers 40million euros (£27m), but Liverpool, however, prefer a player plus cash deal.
Reds forward Luis Garcia hinted he could be used as a makeweight in a potential deal by claiming on Spanish TV yesterday that he was “only thinking of Liverpool” but adding: “I would like to return to Spain after Anfield. Not to Barcelona, to Atletico Madrid.”
No movement is expected until Torres returns from holiday on July 10.
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