Atletico Madrid forward Fernando Torres says that "conversations" with the club have started about him signing a new contract to stay at the Estadio Vicente Calderon next season.
Torres returned to Atletico in January 2015 in a complicated loan deal involving former clubs Chelsea and AC Milan, and 18 months later the 32- year-old will be out of contract at the end of the current campaign.
It had been expected that he would move on this summer, but a late burst of form as Atletico challenged for the Liga title and qualified for the Champions League final has seemingly ledto a change of heart from the Calderon authorities, with talks about a new two-year deal reported in the local media.
Torres told news agency EFE, in quoted reported by AS, that his own future was not so important ahead of the May 28 Champions League final against Real Madrid, but he was happy that communication with Atletico about his future had begun.
"There are conversations, and there is good will, which is important for me," Torres said. "But I continue to think that my own part is secondary. We have in front of us the game of our lives [the Champions League final], but it is true we have started to talk, and I like that."
Torres was infamously stuck on 99 career goals for Atletico through most of the winter, but a turnaround since February has seen him reach 10 league goals in a season for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign when he was still at Liverpool.
"Regular games have been important," he said. "The confidence you get from scoring goals helps. The more goals you score, the more confidence you have. When you have something you have dreamed of, right in front of you, and you can almost touch it, you give even more than you have inside."
Such form has led to a lot of talk that the Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 winner could get a recall to the Spain side for the summer's European Championship in France, even though Torres has not featured at all for his national team since the disastrous World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
"I don't like to talk about it, as it gets misunderstood," he said. "The reality is I have never had a problem with the national team. It has always made me proud, and I never retired.
"I've been two years without a call-up, so I don't feel part of the team at the moment. It would be a surprise, but I am available for selection. I've played 110 international games, so it would be difficult to be more committed."