With Álvarez, Gallagher & Co.
©IMAGO
If you had asked football fans before the start of the transfer window which clubs would be making the most expensive additions, few would have expected that Chelsea, Atlético Madrid and Aston Villa would be the ones to set the tone across Europe (see statistics). Admittedly, the Villans are playing in the Champions League for the first time and have always been at the top of the rankings in recent years. But the Colchoneros have not been known for extreme activity on the transfer market recently. With the star transfer Julián Álvarez (24) and the other signings Conor Gallagher (24), Alexander Sørloth (28) and Robin Le Normand (27), Atlético is approaching the 200 million euro mark shortly before deadline day and is therefore not that far from its own record from the 2019/20 season.
At that time, coach Diego Simeone’s team invested a whopping €247.4 million in record signings João Félix (24), Marcos Llorente (29) and co. – but also earned €316.3 million from the departures of Antoine Griezmann (33), Lucas Hernández (28) and Rodri (28). Expensive player sales were in short supply for a long time this summer, with only Álvaro Morata (31; Milan) and Çağlar Söyüncü (28; Fenerbahce) bringing in €21.5 million for Atlético’s coffers. Samu Omorodion’s (20) transfer to Chelsea fell through at the last minute, but in order not to jeopardize the Gallagher deal, João Félix (24) took his place. Nevertheless, how does this difference in income and expenditure, which has only occurred once in the club’s history in 2018/19, come about?
“After Atlético finished last season outside the top three for the first time since Simeone’s arrival in the winter of 2011, the squad needed a renewal – especially in defense, where so far only Le Normand has been added, while Mario Hermoso, Stefan Savic, Gabriel Paulista and Söyüncü have left the club. In addition, Simeone and Co. had to look for better alternatives in their positions after the departures of Morata, Memphis Depay and Saúl Ñíguez,” explains Iván Fuente, Content Manager at Transfermarkt in Spain.
The Atlético expert adds: “Last season, Atlético earned twice as much money as it spent on new signings: 103 million to 54.5 million euros. The year before, the transfer deficit was only one million, although the club has regularly played in the Champions League since 2013/14. Atlético fans have long felt that the owners were spending too little money on the squad. In fact, since Simeone took office, over 40 clubs have had a more negative transfer balance than Atlético, even though it is one of the six teams that have always been represented in the Champions League during this time.”
Morata & Co. make room in Atlético Madrid’s salary structure for new signings around Álvarez
Due to the income from the Champions League and the upcoming Club World Cup, Atlético has a large transfer budget. Added to this is the €50 million for João Félix. The LaLiga salary cap, which has caused problems for many Spanish clubs in recent years when registering new players, will also have little impact on transfer activities.
“Although there are no figures for the new season yet, they will come in September, in February Atlético received an increase in the salary cap for the first time after three reductions and has since been allowed to invest 303.4 million euros in salaries. The departures mentioned, especially of Morata, Savic and Depay, are already making plenty of room there – ideally there should be more departures like Thomas Lemar. In addition, captain Koke accepted a lower salary than before when he extended his contract in March,” predicts Fuénte.
In addition, Atlético carried out a capital increase of 70.7 million euros at the end of June. In this context, club boss Miguel Ángel Gil emphasised the difficulty of “finding a balance between investing in infrastructure and maintaining a competitive team” – which the club had managed to do. In September 2017, Atlético opened the Wanda Metropolitano, one of the most modern arenas in Europe. The costs for this have practically already been amortised, the statement said. In order to remain competitive, the “financial efforts” must be maintained or “even increased”, said Gil.
TM community sometimes skeptical about Atlético Madrid’s transfer summer
Given the large investments, there was some scepticism in the TM community. In the Atlético forum, user “93Schnix” wrote in the wake of the Álvarez transfer: “The whole thing still doesn’t seem financially sensible to me. Despite a few departures and the capital increase, I find it worrying if, in addition to the Argentinian (Álvarez; editor’s note), they actually sign the two or three other players mentioned without generating any further income for player departures, apart from Samu (or now João Félix; editor’s note). In recent years, they have gone from one emergency solution to the next, especially in the defender position, because there was no more room for maneuver, and now we may be moving towards record levels in terms of spending.”
The Atlético fan continued: “In addition, the salary structure has been very good in recent years, or at least had to be, as it has been pushed to the limit. The salaries of the top earners Griezmann, Simeone and Koke have been significantly reduced compared to before. Only Jan Oblak is still significantly out of step here. I hope that the Slovenian’s contract does not serve as a guide for the new signings. That would quickly undo the good work of the last few years in this regard and create a new salary structure.”
Now there should be some movement towards the end of the transfer period. In addition to Galan and Mourino, an attacking player (RoRo, Correa, Samu) is likely to leave the club. All three have extremely low book values and are more likely to be players who supplement the squad.
RoRo is a bit wasted as a left-wing player and I understand the potential swap with Girona’s left-back Gutierrez. However, I would prefer if Angelito left the club, as he has recently been bigger…
I am more than hyped and laughing to myself. Nobody believed we could get players of this caliber, let alone that such players would want to move to us! After all, we are talking about Julian Alvarez, the current world champion and Copa champion. A player in his prime as a footballer who can guarantee a successful future. That is a difference like day and night compared to the boy of the time and the diva of today a la Joao Felix, who brought us a whopping…
