Torres’ Future Must Be Decided Now – Agent

Fernando Torres has offers from eight clubs for next season if he does not remain at Atletico Madrid, according to one of his representatives.

Torres is currently on loan at Atletico from AC Milan but the 18-month agreement is due to expire at the end of the season and the Madrid club had a decision pending about his future.

Atletico could move to make the agreement permanent before the close of the January window to ensure he remains on the books even if the club has to serve a FIFA ban on registering new players in the summer.

However, it is not yet clear whether Atletico want to retain the former Liverpool and Chelsea striker.

On Thursday, Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said the club would make a decision soon.

“The olive is the tree for peace and we have peace in our club, inside as well as outside,” Cerezo told AS. “The coaches are working on the topic of Fernando Torres and they will be the ones who will decide his future in the coming days.”

Last week, Atletico coach Diego Simeone said he had not decided yet about 31-year-old’s future for 2016, but added that decisions were made with accomplishments in mind.

“We are taking that day by day, match by match,” the Argentine coach said recently when asked about a permanent deal for Torres, who has scored just twice in the league so far this season. “As you can imagine, I can’t think of anything more than what is generated based upon performance. This is performance-based. Our job, yours, that of the football players, is clear and we base it always upon performance when looking at the future for everyone.”

The FIFA ban means that Atletico can sign but not register players after the close of this current transfer window on Jan. 31 and the sanctions prohibit them from registering players over the following two transfer windows.

Atleti are appealing the decision but if they want to ensure they are able to make the Torres deal permanent, they must do it by the end of the month.