Fernando Torres: Jose Mourinho didn't force me out of Chelsea, but I needed to 'feel important'

The Spaniard is currently on loan at AC Milan

Fernando Torres goes for a scissor kick (GETTY IMAGES)

Fernando Torres moved on from Chelsea because he needed to "feel important" - rather than being forced out of the club by Jose Mourinho.

The £50m signing from Liverpool never managed to come good on the expectancy that surrounded him after his then British record transfer.

With Diego Costa, Loic Remy and club legend Didier Drogba arriving over the summer, Torres went out on loan to AC Milan to end his disastrous three-and-a-half year spell at Stamford Bridge.

Despite the influx of arrivals, Torres insisted the decision to go was his.

He said: “Mourinho has always been good to me. The decision to leave was a personal one because I needed more, I needed to feel important.

“Mourinho and I have a good relationship and still today we continue to talk to each other.”

Torres, 30, was targeted by his former club Atletico Madrid but admitted a move back was out of the question.

“There wasn’t a real option to return. They speculated with it and I didn’t like that,” said Torres. “I’ve said it many times, I won’t go to Atletico to retire. I will go if I have motivation to compete because the Atletico of today is very different than when I was there.

“I follow them every weekend. It [returning] is an option that isn’t real.”

Torres has scored just once since his switch to Italy but thinks he is playing well enough to be selected for Spain, despite being ignored recently. He said: “I want to think my cycle in the national team hasn’t ended.”