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Atletico Madrid skipper Fernando Torres has revealed that Manchester United did try to sign him in the summer, despite the Premiership outfit denying making an approach.
Torres could have left the Vicente Calderon but opted to sign a a 12-month contract extension.
“Well, there was interest (from United) and when there is interest it gets put to Atletico,” the 22-year-old said. “They are the ones who have the last word and I don’t know anymore about it.
“I know other players have gone to Italy and England. But I told the club they were the ones who had to decide if they wanted to keep me or not.
“They showed confidence and trust in me at a time they could have made a lot of money. They could have built a more competive side if they had sold me but they prefered to keep me and I thank them.
“After the World Cup lots of things were said about my future, about the possibility of me joining other teams. I think this is a way to show people what we have been saying for a long time, that I have never thought of leaving and that I am staying.
“We have added another year to the contract so that has put an end to the specualation as people know that if I wanted to leave I would have moved. But that was never the case.
“After the World Cup many teams came in for me but this is a way to show the trust that exists between the club and myself. This should calm things down and hopefully this year nobody will talk about my future.
“This seson the aim is to have success, which is what we have lacked in the past two years. We need to get into Europe. If the team grows then we as players grow, don’t we?” he said.
“If we miss out on Europe again, no matter how well the season goes, next year will be the same. If we get into Europe, we as players will improve because we will have played at a higher level.
“We would be seen all over Europe and since we would have been part of a project that would have taken us from La Liga to play in Europe, people would see the club is making progress. We are making slow but good progress.
“We know Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to be there fighting at the top. Valencia are pretty strong too and so are Sevila but they probably aren’t strong enough to challenge Real or Barca.
“There are a group of teams who want the same things as we do, the Champions League or the Uefa Cup. We will see how we do. We want to be in front of our rivals but we don’t want a repeat of last season where we have fallen apart and been left behind.
“I believe that if we want to see this project grow and believe in it, we have to be competing with those teams like Sevilla, Valencia and Deportivo.”
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