Soccer News: Revamping the La Liga Top Three – Atlético Needs Money and Time

According to Soccer News, after three consecutive seasons without major trophies and falling out of the top three in La Liga for the first time in 11 years, both Atlético de Madrid and Diego Simeone have realized that the team’s current strength has reached its ceiling. A complete overhaul to return to the top three is now a pressing matter.

Despite financial constraints, Atlético de Madrid has provided Simeone with as much transfer budget support as possible. This summer, Atlético spent a staggering 140 million euros, and considering the deals for Joao Felix and Conor Gallagher, the total investment will reach 184 million euros, second only to Chelsea (239 million euros) in terms of European club investments this summer. This is the second-highest summer window investment in Atlético’s history, following the 2019/20 season when they spent 247 million euros on signing Joao Felix (127.2 million euros).

The away match against Villarreal in the new season was the debut of Simeone’s 4.0 version of Atlético. However, the team, especially with significant changes in the defensive lineup, failed to start with a win, drawing with an injury-hit and weakened Villarreal side away from home. AS newspaper commented that despite looking like a brand new Atlético, the team is still making the same old mistakes. To reshape the La Liga top-three landscape, Atlético still has a long way to go, needing not just large investments but also time.