Lemar has ended up totally disconnected from Atlético. The Frenchman, who in 2018 was the most expensive signing in the history of Atlético for 72 million in exchange for 70 percent of his rights, does not progress as a rojiblanco and has become a problem of difficult solution. Andrea Berta, the sports director, led an operation that two years later has revealed itself as unsuccessful and burdensome, after failing to find continuity in Simeone's plans. Lemar weighs heavily on the balance sheet. It is the Griezmann heritage. To seal the continuity of the French, at that time, it was decided to satisfy his desire and surround him with like-minded players to attempt the assault on the Metropolitan Champions. Lucas was renewed, now at Bayern, and opted for Lemar, after a discreet last season at Monaco. All in all, Lemar had been key in the Monegasque league title and one of the players with the best last pass in European football.
There has been no trace of it in the last season of Atlético, almost in the two that he has been a rojiblanco. In this he finished with a worrying double zero in the goals and assists box, after playing a total of 1147 minutes. Another piece of information that makes clear its lack of harmony with the rojiblanco game is that it averages 0.4 key passes every ninety minutes, that is sending to a teammate that generates a goal opportunity for the team. Low participation and prominence. The investment by Lemar was very important and now it is one of those that conditions Atlético's very tight staffing expense. 348 million in the 2019-20 financial year.
With an estimated gross salary of about 12 million, according to what the specialized site Sports Intelligence once pointed out, plus a transfer amortization of about 14.4 million per season, Lemar records in the balance of spending about 26.4 million per campaign in total. He is almost halfway through his contract, he is missing three more seasons to finish being amortized in which, in total, Atlético would have to invest some 79.2 million more. That figure seems exaggerated for the role of a player who has shown that he speaks a soccer language completely different from Atlético de Simeone. The big problem is how to balance that with a solution in the market, after several unsuccessful attempts, and with a clear decline in the player's assessment. When it arrived its value, according to the specialized site Transfermarkt, was 70 million, while now it has crumbled to 24, according to the same source.