200 million euros! Atletico Madrid's spending on reinforcements is 48 times that of Real Madrid and Barcelona will reproduce the "Western Super League" triumvirate

Brother Bao loves football

2024-08-07 13:24Published in Zhejiang

95 million euros of Alvarez, 42 million euros of Gallagher, 34.5 million euros of Lenormand, 32 million euros of Therot, Atletico Madrid introduced 4 players in the summer window, and the recruitment expenditure has reached 200 million euros, which is 48 times the total transfer investment of Real Madrid and Barcelona! So far, Real Madrid, one of the top three in La Liga, has only spent 1.5 million euros to buy out Joselu in the summer window, and Barcelona has only spent 2.7 million euros to sign Victor from Girona, and the total expenditure of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the summer window is only 4.2 million euros. After investing a lot of money, Atletico Madrid's strength has improved significantly, and the new season will have the ability to wrestle with Real Madrid and Barcelona, and La Liga will reproduce the wonderful scene of the three England competing for hegemony.

Since Valencia won the La Liga title in the 2003-2004 season, the La Liga titles in the next 20 seasons have been won by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, of which Barcelona have won the title 11 times, Real Madrid have won the title 7 times and Atletico Madrid 2 times. Even from the 2012-2013 season, these three clubs have won the top three in La Liga for 11 consecutive seasons, and other La Liga teams have only competed for the fourth place in the league.

However, after Atletico Madrid won the La Liga championship in the 2020-2021 season, it has been stabilized by Real Madrid and Barcelona in the last three seasons, and was even squeezed out of the top three in La Liga by Girona last season. Simeone's goal is to get Real Madrid and Barcelona out of the game and regain the La Liga title.

Last season, Real Madrid won the championship with 29 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss, 95 points, Barcelona won the runner-up with 26 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses, 85 points, and Atletico Madrid won the fourth place with 24 wins, 4 draws, 10 losses and 76 points, which is obviously different from Real Madrid and Barcelona. But judging from the small cycle between the three teams, Real Madrid is 3:2 Barcelona at home and 2:1 Barcelona away; Barcelona 1:0 Atletico at home, 3:0 Atletico Madrid away; Atletico Madrid 3:1 Real Madrid at home, 1:1 Real Madrid away, the three teams form a food chain connected from head to tail, Real Mark Barcelona, Barcelona Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid. There is not much difference in the results of the small round robin between the three teams, the reason why the final league points gap is so large, Atletico Madrid lost too many points in the competition with other teams in La Liga is the main reason, after the end, Atletico Madrid players are seriously aging, most of the elderly players, physical decline and instability are the main reasons.

Last season, Atletico's squad aged 30 and over included Antoine Griezmann, Koke, De Paul, Witsel, Oblak and Morata, as well as four rotational players including Cesar Azpilicueta, Reinildo, Depay and Savic. In contrast, only Kroos, Carvajal and Rudiger are the absolute mainstays of the Real Madrid team, while Luka Modric, Joselu, Alaba, Nacho, Vazquez and Courtois are all rotational players, while Kroos, Joselu and Nacho have all left in the summer window and have a younger squad this season. Barcelona's veterans are only three absolute mainstays, Lewandowski, Gundogan and Ter Stegen, as well as three substitutes in Inigo Martinez, Roberto and Alonso, the latter two of whom have left the club in the summer window. Therefore, last season, Atletico Madrid in the game with Real Madrid and Barcelona, the starting lineup age was 2 to 3 years older than the opponent, and after the summer window, the age of Atletico's main squad will be significantly lower than last season.

If the 442 formation is played, it is expected that Atletico Madrid's main lineup for the new season will be goalkeeper Oblak, defenders Reinildo, Molina, Jimenez and Lenormand, midfielders Koke, De Paul, Llorente and Gallagher, forwards Alvarez and Griezmann, and there is also a possibility that Griezmann will drop back to increase the creativity of the midfield, and then Alvarez and Thurlot will partner in the attack. The starting line-up was both offensive and defensive, but left-back Reinildo seemed to be the team's biggest weakness.

Simeone clearly sees the problem too, and after spending more than 200 million euros to sign Alvarez, Gallagher, Lenormand and Thurlot, Atletico's next transfer target is Feyenoord's 26-year-old Slovakia left-footed defender Hancko. Standing at 188cm and weighing 80kg, Hanzko can play as a left-sided centre-back or a cameo at left-back, and he moved to Feyenoord from Sparta Prague for €8.3 million in August 2022 and quickly became an absolute mainstay of the team, making 93 appearances for Feyenoord in two seasons, contributing 11 goals and eight assists, and is a veritable defender with knives, currently worth €35 million, with a contract expiring in June 2028. However, Atletico's first offer of 30 million euros has been rejected by Feyenoord.

If Atletico can sign Hanzko, then Simeone can switch to a 352 formation, with Hanzko, Lenormand and Jimenez playing a three-centre-back, Molina and Lino playing wing-backs, Griezmann, De Paul and Koke in midfield, and Alvarez and Thurlot up front, which was also a common formation for Atletico last season. The two legs of the Champions League 1/8 finals against Inter Milan used this formation. Griezmann's position is more flexible, he can play as a striker as he did last season, or he can retreat to a similar midfield position like in France to organise the attack, and Griezmann's position depends on whether Thurlot can play last season's La Liga silver boot form at Atletico.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have very limited investment in the transfer market compared to Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid's biggest signing in the summer window is Mbappe, who has signed an expired contract from Paris Saint-Germain, and if in terms of player value, this is a transfer of more than 200 million euros, and Mbappe's real transfer fee is likely to exceed the sum of the four players of Alvarez, Gallagher, Lenormand and Thorlot. In addition, Endrick, who has reached the age of 18, has finally joined Real Madrid, and this 47.5 million euro signing was confirmed by Real Madrid two years ago. Joselu joined the Qatar league for the same price after being bought out by Real Madrid for 1.5 million euros, which is also a reward for Real Madrid's achievements last season, and Kroos's retirement is a huge loss for Real Madrid, whether Bellingham or Valverde can replace Kroos will be the key to Real Madrid's success or failure this season.

Barca's performance in the transfer market is as unpredictable as ever, after sending away Robero, Alonso, Romeu, did not continue to loan Felix and Cancelo, but signed 22-year-old Spain striker Victor from Girona for 2.7 million euros is the only signing so far, Victor was loaned to Atletico Barcelona (that is, Barca II) last season, scored 19 goals in 39 La La Liga, with good efficiency, and Barca also promoted three young players from the second team, Faye, Casado and Ford, And through the sale of three young players, Riyadh, Giu and Pedrola, he received 18 million euros.

In addition, Barça are very close to signing 26-year-old Spain international Olmo from Leipzig for 62 million euros (55 million euros fixed plus 7 million euros floating). Olmo scored three goals as a rotation player for Spain during the European Championship and won the European Championship Golden Boot, and his contract with Leipzig has a release clause of 60 million euros, and Barca's offer is higher than the release fee because the 55 million euros will be paid in 4-5 installments. Olmo came through La Masia's youth academy and moved to Leipzig from Dinamo Zagreb for €29 million in January 2020 and is currently valued at €60 million. By the way, with this money, why not buy Nico Williams?

At present, it seems that the strength of Real Madrid's forward line has improved significantly, the control of the midfield has decreased, the back line is basically unchanged, and the overall strength has improved compared with last season; Barcelona's squad has not changed much, and its strength is basically the same as last season; After investing heavily in Atletico Madrid, the squad is younger and its strength has improved significantly. In the new season of La Liga, the gap between Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid has narrowed, and it will once again usher in the situation of the triumph competition, and the fans are blessed!

Note: The picture comes from the Internet.

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