Reports emanating from Italy suggest that AC Milan are close to agreeing a deal with Chelsea over the loan signing of Spanish striker Fernando Torres.
Torres has been tipped to leave Stamford Bridge in recent months after failing to make an impression since his record £50million move to West London back in 2011. Chelsea’s recent acquisitions of Diego Costa and club legend Didier Drogba have further fueled speculation that Chelsea’s No.9 could well be off this summer.
And it seems that Italian giants AC Milan are the team that could be set to land Torres, that is if Italian reports are to believed. Jose Mourinho has recently claimed that Torres still has a future at the club and that he would be useful to him. But ‘El Nino’ wasn’t even named on the bench during Saturday’s 2-0 win against Leicester.
Recent reports in Spain suggested that Torres would demand the full £16million left his in his contract if he was to be offloaded permanently, a staggering fee which seems unlikely to be paid by Chelsea.
It seems likely that Torres will link up with Filipo Inzaghi at the San Siro in the coming days with the Spaniard seen as the replacement to mercurial striker Mario Balotelli, who signed for Torres’ former club Liverpool yesterday. Another of  Torres’ former clubs, Atletico Madrid, were reportedly interested in bringing the former club hero back to the Vicente Calderon, though that seems out of the question now.
As for his possible replacement, rumours have been rife about a possible move for Roma striker Mattia Destro. The 22-year old has been linked with a move to West London in recent days, with the striker’s agent also confirming interest from Jose Mourinho’s side as well as AC Milan themselves.  Though Milan have pulled out of the race for Destro in recent days it seems, hence their pursuit of Torres.
The coming days should give us clearer glimpse as to where Fernando Torres’ future lies. If he does indeed leave, Mourinho would have to act quick to bring in a replacement in the final week of the transfer window. The Portuguese manager has recently stated his desire to have 3 strikers in his squad whom he can rotate frequently depending on the game or competition.
