Fernando Torres, Atletico Madrid manager? Why ex-Liverpool fan favourite is being touted to replace Diego Simeone

On July 25, 2021, Atletico Madrid jubilantly proclaimed: 'El Nino has come home'.

After two stints with the capital club during his playing days, the retired striker had agreed to take charge of the Rojiblancos' Under-19s (although he was initially listed as the assistant as he had yet to obtain all of the requisite badges from UEFA).

Torres was one of Atleti's most famous and successful sons, an academy graduate who had developed into one of the most feared forwards in world football.

But even though he had spent the previous season working within the youth sector, his formal entry into the world of coaching came as a surprise to many.

"If you'd ask me if I ever imagined Fernando becoming a manager, I'd have said, 'Don't even think about it - there's just no way,'" former agent Jose Antonio Martin Peton told Relevo at the time.

Even Torres himself admitted that he wasn't one of those players that always planned to go into coaching. As a youngster, he never thought much about what he had learned during the training sessions.

It was only as he got older that he felt compelled to pay more attention to what he was being instructed to do - and why.

Torres still seemed more likely to become a behemoth in the world of fitness, as he founded a gym franchise called 'Nine Fitness' after doing various business courses following his retirement from professional football in August 2019.

However, the chance to return to Atletico proved impossible to resist - particularly as he'd be working in tandem with his former youth team colleague Ricardo Ortega.

"It's an exciting challenge I've got in front of me," Torres said, "and we'll give everything we can to continue to serve our club."

Their hard work yielded impressive results, with Atletico Juvenil winning two league titles and a Copa de Campeones, as well as reaching the 2021-22 Youth League Final Four.

Consequently, Torres' appointment as Atleti's B team coach in 2024 came as much less of a surprise than his return to the club three years previously.

Torres knew that running the Rojiblancos' reserves represented a tougher task than looking after the Under-19s. It meant more responsibility and, thus, more pressure.

However, while Atletico Madrileno missed out on the Primera Federacion – Group 2 play-offs on the final day of the season, Torres' employers were sufficiently satisfied with the progress made in terms of points and performances to hand him a new, two-year contract on May 30.

"I'm very happy to be able to continue my progression and development as a coach at the club of my life," Torres said after signing on until 2027. "I'm grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to starting this new stage.

"Regardless of the results, there's a lot of self-criticism. I want to continue bringing the team closer to the kind of football I believe in."

Torres' preferred style of play is a little difficult to define, as the emphasis is very much on tactical fluidity  - which is hardly a shock given he played under a variety of coaches with very different footballing philosophies.

As a source close to Torres told GOAL, "He's got a bit of everything. He's got a bit motivation that Simeone has, a bit of the relationship with the players that [Luis] Aragones had, a bit of the [Rafa] Benitez tactical mindset, and the push that you have to give a team that [Jose] Mourinho had."

From a tactical perspective, he's certainly more Mourinho than Guardiola - to compare him to one particular coach would be a mistake.

Like most modern managers, he instructs his players to try to win the ball back as quickly as possible and as high up the pitch as possible but if the initial press fails, his favoured 3-5-2 formation quickly transforms into a 5-3-2.

However, Torres' teams have been known to change shape multiple times in the same game as he's not bound to one particular system.

The only pre-requisite that his players are aggressive and play at pace, trying to get the ball forward as quickly as possible.

It, thus, won't come as a surprise to learn that Torres was a massive admirer of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, which throws up the rather exciting prospect of him one day coaching the club that he scored 65 times for during a three and a half-year spell at Anfield.

The feeling at Atleti now, though, is that Torres is being lined up as Simeone's successor, with much made of the fact that both of their current contracts are due to expire in 2027 - which would obviously make for the smoothest of transitions.

Interestingly, the pair fell out during Torres' second spell with the Rojiblancos due to a lack of game time but the forward now views that entire episode in a very different light.

"Simeone was my idol, then my team-mate and then my manager - I understand that must have been an awkward situation for him," Torres admitted in an Amazon Prime documentary.

As for Simeone, he has always insisted that he never had any personal problems with a player he famously said after the 2018 Europa League Cup final win "represents everything we're about".

The fact that Torres is, just like Simeone, a club legend has certainly helped him make the transition from player to coach.

For example, when current senior-squad star Pablo Barrios was playing for Torres at Under-19 level, the midfielder explained that "when he tells you things, it's not the same as when someone else tells you. He's Fernando Torres and the truth is, it's an honour to play for him."

Meanwhile, former Juvenil captain David Navarro told Relevo that when Torres spoke "there was silence in the dressing room and the whole team listened. Words can't explain the atmosphere."

Of course, commanding such respect from youngsters is one thing; seasoned professionals are unlikely to be quite as starstruck, even if Torres has pretty much seen, done and won it all.

There's no denying, though, that 'El Nino' already has a presence about him. He prowls the touchline like Simeone and is an even more imposing figure due to all of that time spent in his own gyms.

Those that know him also speak glowingly about his meticulous attention to detail, with Torres having set up an office in his house "to prepare for matches and analyse opponents".

As a result, it now feels as if the former forward that nobody expected to become a coach is now destined to become one of the best in the business.

"I learned many things from Benitez, (Carlo) Ancelotti, Mourinho and, most recently, Simeone because they all had different strengths," Torres recently revealed in an interview for Nine Fitness.

"But they all have something in common: absolute dedication to what they do. You can't be number one if you don't have absolute dedication."

Simeone would doubtless concur, which is precisely why Torres is likely to succeed him as Atletico coach, and perhaps sooner rather than later.