Diego Simeone freely admitted that he felt an overriding sense of relief after Atletico Madrid picked up their first win of the new Liga season on Saturday. As the Rojiblancos boss admitted after the 2-0 victory over Villarreal, "It wasn't just another day, after only two points from three matches."
Of course, while attention has now switched to Atleti's Champions League opener against Liverpool at Anfield, speculation over Simeone's future is unlikely to die down anytime soon. His status as a club legend is already set in stone but there has been a gradual erosion of his influence at the Metropolitano over the past year or so.
A second successive summer spending spree has also ramped up the pressure on Simeone to deliver to win a first major trophy since the sensational 2020-21 Liga title triumph. In that context, this feels like a make-or-break campaign for the club's iconic coach.
But if he were to stand down at some point between now and next season, who could possibly fill the void? According to Simeone's former assistant coach German Burgos, there's only one possible choice. "Fernando Torres," the Argentine told only last week, "he's ready to do it."
That may seem like a bold claim, given Torres has yet to manage at the very highest level, but the former Spain striker is held in the highest esteem at Atleti – and not just because of his past exploits as a player…
An unexpected move into management
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 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.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'An exciting challenge'
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.
'The club of my life'
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."
'He's got a bit of everything'
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.