Another year on the hunt for a '9'

Atlético has found in Luis Suárez your reference in the area. After years and years looking for a leading scorer, the Uruguayan arrived from the sky, a very contrastatic forward and to whom Barcelona had shown the starting gate, further increasing their competitiveness and desire to claim.

Simeone adapted his game system to '9', seeking greater combinatorial football to bring the ball closer to the area in better conditions and Suárez responded in style: 21 goals that were fundamental in 21 points and the two goals that certified the comebacks against Osasuna and Valladolid in the last two days of the League and served to lift the champion title. The Uruguayan, in addition, confirmed in full celebration that he does not intend to move from Atlético this next season, since by contract he had the option to decide on his second course. However, the rojiblanco club will go back to combing the market in search of another battering ram to serve as a companion, relief in case of injury, rest or sanction and complement you above.

Suárez was not the only addition to the attack point during the 2020-21 season. Diego Costa's departure in December led Atlético again to look for a new footballer at that position during the January market, signing on loan to Moussa Dembélé from Olympique de Lyon. The Frenchman would be delighted to continue at the rojiblanco club, but the almost 35 million of his purchase clause for a player who did not reach 100 minutes and did not manage to score, it seems excessive. The club could look for another formula to keep it, in a new assignment, or study all the options that open in this new market to add another striker. And it is that, since 2013, Atlético has always signed at least one forward, since 2010 if we take into account that In 2012, the great addition to the top was the return of Diego Costa after his assignment to Rayo.

Some signings for that position were of a very high profile, looking for a starting reference like Luis Suárez himself last summer, Morata in January 2019, Costa in 2017, Gameiro, Jackson, Torres, Mandzukic or Villa … and others of a lower profile (Saponjic, Kalinic, Raúl Jiménez or the recent Dembélé …). Saponjic's signing in the summer of 2019 is the one with the least prominence in the entire Cholo era. Only 108 minutes in a season and a half for the Serbian, returning from his assignment to Cádiz and it does not seem to have any niche in the club. Came from Benfica B, club of origin that same transfer market of João Félix, the real great investment of that 2019.

Between Dembélé and Villa

Six months before Saponjic, in the winter market of that 2019, Morata was the rojiblanca bet on top. Loaned last season to Juventus, it seems that he will continue the next course in the Italian team. In a year and a half at Atlético he scored 22 goals in 61 games. Also in the 2018-19 season, but at the beginning of the year, the club had incorporated above to Nikola Kalinic, that he would only play 24 rojiblanco games, scoring four goals. The Croatian arrived in theory to give relief to Diego Costa, with many physical problems.

The Spanish-Brazilian had returned to the club in the summer of 2017, but the FIFA sanction on Atlético prevented him from debuting until January 2018. However, the '19' was very far from his version prior to leaving for Chelsea, although he would participate in the Europa League, the European Super Cup (with a double against Madrid) and even in this League, where he participated in seven games (two goals) before terminating his contract.

Costa had already tried to re-fish in the summer of 2016, but faced with the impossibility of achieving it Frenchman Kevin Gameiro ended up signing from Sevilla. In his first course as a mattress he scored 16 goals, for the next 11. And, if Gameiro did not fully meet expectations, the previous season, Jackson Martinez's bet had completely flopped. He lasted only half a season at the club, where he scored three goals despite the great poster he brought from Porto as the successor to his compatriot Falcao. That same summer he had also signed for Atlético Luciano Vietto, that neither had the expected return far from it.

Total change after winning the 2013-14 League

If after getting this League the bet is to keep the block up, the 2014-15 season was one of full change. The departure of Costa and Villa after winning the title caused the incorporation of Mandzukic and Raúl Jiménez as points and Griezmann to play behind them. The Croatian fulfilled his mission with 20 goals, although he has dried up since February coinciding with the return to Atlético of Fernando Torres a month before. El Niño returned all the affection to his people with a good performance despite being in the last years of his career. He scored six goals in those first months back and in the three full seasons he was there, he reached ten goals: 12, 10 and 10 before leaving for Japan.

In the 2013-14 campaign, the first league title of the 21st century had been lifted with that explosive forward formed by Diego Costa (27 goals in the League and 36 in total) and David Villa (14 goals, 13 in the League), that, like Suárez, arrived with all the facilities in summer from Barcelona, ​​since it was considered that their best days had passed. The Asturian won the affection of the fans despite spending only one year at the club and formed a great couple with Costa, who the previous summer had returned to Atlético from his assignment to Rayo in principle without a place, but winning over Simeone from the first training session. The Spanish-Brazilian had also formed a golden duo with Falcao, Atlético's perfect scorer who arrived in the summer of 2011 and left in 2013 with 70 goals scored in 91 games. A constant back and forth of strikers, where this summer will be easier, since the first sword is covered with the permanence of Suárez, but the position will be analyzed again in search of the piece that will give it a replacement