The statistical anecdotes are well known. A smaller wage bill than Queens Park Rangers. An entire squad assembled for less than Gareth Bale’s price tag.
Despite the garlands thrown their way in recent days, the path ahead looks a good deal rockier for the Spanish champions. What now for Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid?
Squad
Los Rojiblancos have shown admirable team planning over the past few years. They see opportunities earlier than others, generally purchase for a lower price than seems feasible and consistently have a player waiting to take over when they lose a star.
On losing Falcao, they had Costa in the wings. When they lost Torres, they had Aguero. They had an answer each time.
However, Atletico are being asked difficult questions come this summer. It’s reasonable to imagine that Atletico are now going to lose both Costa and Courtois and will be facing a slew of bids for the remainder of their in demand squad.
Is the recently signed teenager Andrea Correa, who has drawn comparisons from Sergio Aguero, the man to replace Diego costa?
An ageing squad compounds the issue. While those who don’t follow Atletico might have been alerted to the talents of Filipe Luis, Miranda, Godin, Garcia and Turan, none are under the age of 27.
If the club is not careful they will face a situation similar to AC Milan this season, who with an ageing squad came eighth in the league with a group of nomad rejects.
A rebuilding job will be required soon enough and that comes at a hefty cost. Announcements about not selling key players following the close of a season are commonplace in the modern game but there has been no such announcement from the Madrid-based club, who may know that the money generated from the sale of players such as Costa is an absolute necessity.
However, they will only see 67 per cent of the transfer fee with an anonymous group of investors owning the remaining 33 per cent. One investigation suggested only six members of the squad were owned outright by the club, with the remainder tied to agents or companies with a share in their careers.
Diego Simeone
“For everyone at the club, he is like a god. He arrived at the club and changed everything. What he says comes true. We follow him. If he asks us to jump from a bridge, we jump. We’re very proud he’s our coach.”
The manager is held in such high regard by the squad that Tiago’s assessment of his manager may be an under exaggeration! It is hard to find examples of one man doing so much for a club, in such a short space of time. Mourinho at Porto from 2002-2004 comes close before his big money move to Chelsea. Is Simeone destined for the same fate?
Unwilling to uproot his three young boys at a delicate age, his situation is complicated with his family living in Argentina. “I am fulfilled professionally but it’s hard on the human side” he told El Grafico last year showing his steely desire to make it to the top of the game.
While nothing is straightforward It would seem that with so much invested in the club it would be a premature departure if Simeone was to leave the club two years into a project.
Could Atletico be a stepping-stone to bigger things? The Argentina job? The ultimate man manager, could he be the one to ignite Messi’s form on the international stage? In the medium term a move to the EPL is a possibility. Only time will tell.
Financial
It seems like a Hollywood movie, an ever-rare David and Goliath story. Atletico Madrid, the tenacious team from the wrong side of town locking horns with their spendthrift neighbours Real Madrid and the magical Barcelona. Step back from the euphoria for a moment and a glance at Atletico’s accounts makes for bleak reading.
Figures for 2011-12 collated by Jose Maria Gay, a professor at the University of Barcelona and an expert on football finances, show the club had debts of up to 500 million euros and the upkeep cost of paying their players and staff alone is more than 90 percent of annual earnings.
Their finances are so tangled that their prize money was withheld by UEFA after Simeone led them to victory in the Europa League in 2012.
“Atletico Madrid’s financial situation is dramatic” according to football finance expert and professor Jaume Llopis. “They had managed to stay afloat due to their unexpected winnings on the pitch, convincing the financially constrained government to let them fall behind in the payment of a jaw-dropping €171m (£141m) in unpaid taxes and the sale of their best players”.
Their current state of affairs is summed up neatly by the club President Gil who used his home as collateral to secure a loan but invested in the Kolkata franchise of the newly created Indian Super League (ISL). They are one of the ten teams in the league, which cost an average of $20 million each.
Angel Barajas, a sports economics specialist argues, “One exceptional season is possible but competing at the highest level in various competitions needs not only a good team but an extraordinary squad, which costs a great deal. What is not viable in the long term is trying to stay in the fight for La Liga and European silverware in competition with clubs who have more than twice their earnings”.
As a consequence of Atletico’s excellent results this season, their finical woes are swept under the media rug with the preferred tagline being Atletico the brave as opposed to Atletico the broke. However, as the FFP rules start to tighten, following the recent restrictions put on various clubs including PSG and Chelsea, this is unlikely to last long.
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