Over the past few seasons, Atletico Madrid have emerged as the dark horses in many major European competitions. This year, they were on the brink of a historic double consisting of a La Liga and a Champions League title, but unfortunately the parties were spoiled by Real Madrid who took home the Champions League crown.
Undoubtedly, the incredible performances that this team has served up in the last couple of years would not have been possible without a strong starting line-up and squad. On the pitch, Atletico dominate other teams with their lethal counter attacking approach, however the problem with this club lies off the pitch.
Almost every time the summer transfer window comes around, Atletico lose their big man up front to a bigger, richer club in Europe. Over the past few years, Atletico have sold a fair few big named strikers. Examples would include the likes of Radamel Falcao, Sergio ‘Kün’Aguero, Fernando Torres and recently Diego Costa.
The constant sale of these marvelous strikers has often earned them comparisons to Arsenal, another team who have been suffering setbacks from losing their star players to other teams. Many now look at teams like Atletico and instantly label them as ‘feeder’ clubs, as they supposedly ‘feed’ their top players to bigger clubs.
In my eyes, though, this should not be the view towards a club like Atletico. It is unfortunate that they have to keep losing their big name players, but that happens only because they need the money. Atletico, similar to Manchester United, have a massive debt dangling over their heads, but don’t earn half as much revenue as United do.
Despite this, Atletico have managed to field great teams and compete with the likes of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona every season. The credit goes to Diego Simeone, their manager, and the head of the club who oversees the transfers.
Whenever Atletico lose a star, they quickly find an equal replacement. But that is not the hard part. Atletico actually manage to find bargain deals, and rarely do they overspend.
In this transfer window, Atletico have already replaced Diego Costa with ex-Bayern Munich player Mario Mandzukic for a fee of around £17 million and have already signed a new left-back in Guilherme Siquera from Granda to replace the seemingly outgoing Filipe Luis. Both of these players have been bought for less than the fee they got for Costa from Chelsea, which is rumoured to be around £32 million.
This just goes on to show the brilliance Atletico possess in the transfer market. Getting a striker who is a proven goalscorer in major leagues like the Bundesliga and the Champions League for just £17 million is a rarity nowadays. Atletico always manage to find cheaper replacements to the superstars they sell, and somehow they always manage to transform them into even better superstars.
In that respect, I think it would be fairer to perceive Atletico like Borussia Dortmund, and not Arsenal. Both Dortmund and Atletico are involved in the sales of their superstars for big money, yet somehow always replace them with their tight budget, which is very commendable.
Sir Alex Ferguson once said that there is no value in the modern day transfer market, yet Atletico Madrid always manage to find it, time after time.
Article contributed by: Mayank Tiwary
Twitter: @VanPerseing.
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