Atletico Madrid want to rescue Roberto Soldado from his Tottenham nightmare and sign the striker as a replacement for Diego Costa.

Soldado endured a miserable season after signing from Valencia last summer in a deal worth up to £26million.

He scored just six Premier League goals and neither of Tottenham’s managers, Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, could get the 29-year-old to repeat the form which saw him net 59 times in La Liga during the previous three years at Valenicia.

New boss Maurico Pochettino is believed to be prepared to listen to offers for the forward while Soldado is also understood to be keen to return to Spain with sources suggesting he is willing to take a pay-cut to secure the move.

Atletico are on the look-out for a new striker as they are set to lose their top scorer Costa to Chelsea for £32m. They tried to sign Soldado last year, but were outbid by Tottenham and ended up buying David Villa from Barcelona.

Significantly, the asking price will not be as high as expected as Spurs paid Valencia only £13m up front, with the rest of the fee depending on various targets. But such was Soldado’s minimal impact this term, he is available for around the £13m fee spent on his initial transfer.

A switch to the Spanish capital would appeal to him, having already played there for Getafe and Real Madrid.

Atletico are looking at other targets, however, including Chelsea duo Romelu Lukaku and Fernando Torres, as well as Porto star Jackson Martinez, Sevilla’s Carlos Bacca and Manchester City’s Alvaro Negredo.

Tottenham's players at the 2014 World Cup 7 show all Tottenham's players at the 2014 World Cup 1/7 Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria) The midfielder won his first cap for Algeria in March after switching allegiance from France 2/7 Paulinho (Brazil) The former Corinthians man shone for Brazil in the Confederations Cup last year GETTY 3/7 Jan Vertonghen (Belgian) The classy defender aspires to play Champions League football and will be looking to make his mark in Brazil. 4/7 Mousa Dembele (Belgium) The skillful midfielder will be hoping to add to his 50 caps at the World Cup in a high-calibre midfield 5/7 Nacer Chadli (Belgium) Has played as a striker and winger for his national side. GETTY 6/7 Hugo Lloris (France) The highly-rated goalkeeper is well established as the no.1 and captain for Les Bleus. 7/7 Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Cameroon) The popular full-back has been on loan at QPR all season and is a likely starter for the Indomitable Lions 1/7 Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria) The midfielder won his first cap for Algeria in March after switching allegiance from France 2/7 Paulinho (Brazil) The former Corinthians man shone for Brazil in the Confederations Cup last year GETTY 3/7 Jan Vertonghen (Belgian) The classy defender aspires to play Champions League football and will be looking to make his mark in Brazil. 4/7 Mousa Dembele (Belgium) The skillful midfielder will be hoping to add to his 50 caps at the World Cup in a high-calibre midfield 5/7 Nacer Chadli (Belgium) Has played as a striker and winger for his national side. GETTY 6/7 Hugo Lloris (France) The highly-rated goalkeeper is well established as the no.1 and captain for Les Bleus. 7/7 Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Cameroon) The popular full-back has been on loan at QPR all season and is a likely starter for the Indomitable Lions

Pochettino, who signed a five-year contract to take charge at White Hart Lane earlier this week, will be handed up to £50m to spend.

He is expected to raise more funds by selling some of the fringe members of the squad and Soldado’s departure would provide significant revenue.

The need to improve the striking options is one of his main priorities and the club have already made an offer for Queens Park Rangers’ Loic Remy, who was on loan at Newcastle this season.

Remy is available for £8m, although has made it clear his preference is to join a club in the Champions League.

Soldado’s departure would leave Emmanuel Adebayor and Harry Kane as the only first-team strikers.

Pochettino has already been linked with some of his former players at Southampton, including Adam Lallana, but a bid for England international Jay Rodriguez is more likely.

The 24-year-old fits chairman Daniel Levy’s preferred profile of being young and English. He scored 17 goals this season and was in contention to be part of the World Cup squad before sustaining a serious knee ligament injury.