Atletico Madrid chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin has insisted that the decision to sign Fernando Torres was purely for football reasons.
The Spanish international completed a loan move to his former club on Monday, just two days after officially joining AC Milan from Chelsea.
Torres is still regarded as a cult hero at the capital club, where he played between 1995 and 2007, but Marin has insisted that the signing was not sentimental.
"In signing Torres we have followed a purely sporting criteria because we want to continue competing at the same level as in recent years, and Fernando will help us do that," Marin told reporters.
"Any social, economic and club brand parameters have come afterwards. The sports side has always come first. In 2007 the economic crisis in Spain began and Fernando and ourselves decided to go our separate ways, to grow on our own, and that's what we did.
"He won, amongst other things, a World Cup, two European Championships and the Champions League, while we won four international titles, three in Spain including La Liga. Now, in 2014, we meet again. We both did well individually and history brings us together once more."
Torres will remain with Atletico until at least the end of next season.
Matt Law
