MADRID, June 27 - Atletico Madrid said on Wednesday it is up to Spain striker Fernando Torres to decide where he wants to play next season as media reports continue to link him with a move to Champions League finalists Liverpool.

"I would love him to stay with us but it is up to Fernando to decide his future. We have spoken to him and told him we want him to stay," Atletico's majority shareholder Miguel Angel Gil told Punto Radio on Wednesday.

"It's normal that the offers and the people around him make him think and give him doubts. His idea is to continue, but in football things move quickly and I can't predict a change in opinion.

"My obligation is to fight for what is best for Atletico and to work on alternatives in case these siren sounds turn to reality. No one is indispensable."

The 23-year-old club captain, and top scorer over the last five seasons, has a contract with Atletico until 2009, but has become one of the hottest transfer targets in Europe this summer.

Rumours have continued unabated since Atletico failed to win a direct route into European competition for this coming season. They finished seventh in the season just ended and will compete in the Intertoto Cup next month with the aim of reaching the UEFA Cup.

The Madrid club struggled to score goals last season and Gil admitted Villarreal's Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan was a prime target.

"The deal we are trying to close with Forlan is to find a partner for Torres, or if he goes, an alternative," Gil added.

"Torres knows we want him to stay, and if he wants to, he will."

Torres, a lifelong Atletico fan, is on holiday and scheduled to return for the club's pre-season on July 9.