Antoine Griezmann understands very well, Atletico Madrid is a big club, a club that is able to challenge the title in every seasons. But just being consistent is not enough, the achievement of the trophy is felt to be lacking for Griezmann after serving for five years. This summer, Griezmann has expressed his desire to leave with rumors that Barcelona is the main goal.
Griezmann along with Diego Godin, Juanfran and Lucas Hernandez were the core players who were part of Atletico players who chose to leave along with several other players who were more familiar with the bench.
For Diego Simeone, this summer’s transfer will be a busy season to rebuild the Atletico squad which has lost most of its core players including starting to give confidence to young players from the Atletico academy. This is tantamount to forming a team from the start, with Diego Costa and Nicola Kalinic likely to be released as well as Alvaro Morata’s unclear status, demanding Simeone to look for a new striker who can lead Atletico’s attacking line.
While at the Atletico defense, it also requires major changes with the possibility of losing five players with Godin, Juanfran and Lucas Hernandez choosing to leave while Filipe Luis and Santiago Arias are still weighing their future at the club.
Although it also has the potential to lose Rodrigo, who is seen by Manchester City, Koke, Saul and Thomas Partey, it is likely that they will stay afloat, as well as winger Angel Correa, Vitolo and Thomas Lemar and Gelson Martinez who will join next season. While Jan Oblak certainly still under the Atletico crossbar.
With Griezmann whose selling price is around 120 million Euros and the possibility of an additional 80 million Euros from Lucas Hernandez’s sale, that number is considered not enough to re-strengthen every line given the recent high selling price of players.
Atletico must be wise to use money from the sale of players to recruit potential low-cost players such as when recruiting Griezmann in 2014 from Sociedad.
One thing to be grateful for is Simeone’s whereabouts for Atletico. The coach who raised the names became star players. Atletico are predicted to have difficulty competing in the top half of next season, but if Simeone is able to find a commensurate substitute for Griezmann and be able to build a solid defense briefly, it is not impossible Atletico will still be the title contender next season
ASL
