LONDON (AP) — Chelsea has agreed terms with AC Milan for striker Fernando Torres to join the Serie A club in a two-year loan deal.
The Premier League club and Milan announced the agreement on their websites Friday, adding that “the move is now subject to Fernando agreeing personal terms with AC Milan and passing a medical examination.”
The deal was announced a few hours after Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had raised the prospect of Torres leaving before the transfer window closes, saying that the 30-year-old Spain striker may be ready to “try a new life, a new club, probably a new league.”
Torres joined Chelsea from Liverpool in January 2011 for what was then a British-record fee of 50 million pounds (then $81 million), but has struggled to command a regular starting place for the London club.
Amid reports that were already linking Torres with a move to Milan, Mourinho said earlier Friday “if he wants to leave . I believe it is to try and be happier than he was in the last couple of years.”
Mourinho also said he wanted to keep hold of Torres, who hasn’t featured at all this season.
Though he has made less of an impact at club level, Torres was a key member of the Spain squad which dominated the game until the recent World Cup in Brazil.
The striker helped his country win Euro 2008 by scoring the only goal of the final against Germany and followed up with another goal in the final of Euro 2012, when Spain retained its European title by beating Italy 4-0. He also came on as a substitute in extra time of Spain’s World Cup final win over the Netherlands in 2010.
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