This summer, we have seen Atletico Madrid show some ambition in the transfer window, with the signings of Matteo Ruggeri from Atalanta, Alejandro Baena from Villarreal, Thiago Almada from Botafogo, and Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis.
With Angel Correa joining Tigres UANL of Mexico and Rodrigo Riquelme joining Betis, attacking reinforcements were needed, and it is hard to argue that the squad has been improved as a result.
In midfield, with Rodrigo de Paul set to join Lionel Messi and the amigos at Inter Miami, another deep midfielder was needed and the club acted quickly enough on that, that Cardoso was announced before de Paul has even left.
Still, this will be in vain without the signings of central defenders. Clement Lenglet started 23 La Liga games last season. Let’s be clear about this. If he starts that many games again next season, Atleti will be nowhere near the title.
Aside him, Robin Le Normand played 27 league games and started 24 of those. He is better than Lenglet, but definitely nowhere near a world class player.
Elsewhere in central defence, Jose Gimenez played 27 times in La Liga, though started just 20 of those. Usually he misses games through injury, but last season it was often due to Simeone’s obsession with Lenglet and the now departed Axel Witsel.
Diego Simeone’s side have been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea’s Renato Veiga, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Juventus. He would be a decent start, but they will need more than just one raw defender.
The Spanish side have been linked with Piero Hincapie of Bayer Leverkusen and Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur this year, but interest in both seems to have been cooled. Even just one of those two would be a significant upgrade on anything they currently have.
In goal, Atleti have Jan Oblak, one of the best keepers in the world. At full-back they have Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente and Ruggeri. In midfield they have Koke, Pablo Barrios, Conor Gallagher and Johnny Cardoso, plus Llorente when he plays there.
Further forward, in attack – they have Antoine Griezmann, Alex Baena, Thiago Almada, Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth.
Aside from full-back, which could be better but still better than central defence, they have top players all over the pitch, from back to front, other than at centre-back. Yet it will be once again wasted if they don’t make improvements in central defence.
You can imagine scenarios where their deadly attackers score three goals in a game, but their leaky defence costs them and they draw a crucial game 3-3. That is the sort of situation they are risking without reinforcements.
Less so in 2021 than 2014, but in both of Simeone’s La Liga title wins in charge of the club, Atletico were built on solid defences. They simply do not have that to their name now. Without new additions, they are not going to finish above Barcelona and Real Madrid. Simple as that.
