He Athletic it is found in a very stopped transfer market due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus and where the great goal rojiblanco goes through find a '9' that help to to get better the very low scoring figures of the team last season. The club looks for a market opportunity, such as a Cavani Whats Next without finding equipment or a Luis Suarez that he could be free with Barcelona, but for this he has to have exits previously.
Let Atlético go to the market in search of a battering ram has become customary. Since 2013, at least one striker has always been signed, since 2010 if we count that in 2012 Diego Costa was the incorporation in the lead returning from his assignment at Rayo at full capacity. Some signings for that position were of a very high profile, such as himself Costa in 2017, Morata in January 2019, Gameiro, Jackson, Torres, Mandzukic or Villa … and others of a lower profile (Saponjic, Kalinic, Raúl Jiménez …), but always looking for a new footballer at the '9' position who could explode as Falcao or Costa had done before his departure to Chelsea.
From Saponjic to Villa
Saponjic's signing a year ago is the one with the least prominence in the entire Cholo era. Only 61 minutes in the whole season divided into three games for the Serbian, who despite this, he does not give up on his great dream to succeed as rojiblanco. Signed from Benfica B, the great investment of the summer of 2020 also came from the Lisbon team, but it was for a João Félix who, after leaving sparkles in his first year at Atlético, is expected to make the big leap in this second year.
Yes, the incorporation of Álvaro Morata six months before. The striker finished as the top scorer last season after scoring 16 goals in all competitions and Atlético exercised the purchase option of about 55 million from Chelsea. If it has the same continuity as up to now, Morata will reach a hundred games this year, but you also have to ask him for an increase in his scoring figures. In total he has scored 22 goals in 61 games in the club.
Far from the best coast
Also in the 2018-19 season, but at the beginning of the course, Atlético had brought Croatian Nikola Kalinic to the fore. A player who continues to belong to Atleti, although it is negotiated his transfer to Besiktas, after playing on loan to Roma last season and playing only 24 games (four goals) with the red and white shirt. Kalinic came in theory to give rest to a Diego Costa who suffered several injuries. The Spanish-Brazilian striker returned to the club in the summer of 2017, but the FIFA sanction on Atlético prevented him from making his debut until January 2018. However, the '19' has not been able to go back to being the same as before his departure to Chelsea. His scoring figures have not even come close to the 36 goals he scored in the 2013-14 season, where he scored 27 in the league to lift the title.
The signing for the attack point of the 2016-17 season was that of Kevin Gameiro. Costa could not be recovered that season and the alternative was the French striker, who had scored 29 goals for Sevilla a year earlier. His performance did not come close to such figures, Although his first season was not bad, with 16 goals forming a forward with his compatriot Griezmann and with a very band-inspired Carrasco. The following season he would do 11 before heading to Valencia.
Jackson, a big fiasco
Gameiro was the rojiblanco signing a year after Jackson Martínez would have made his debut at the Vicente Calderón without coming close to the expected performance. From the end it was dreamed that he was the new Falcao, his compatriot and with a similar past in Porto. His 32 goals for the Portuguese team last season they presaged that Jackson would become the next great '9' in the history of Atlético. But rojiblanco did three in 22 games before leaving for China in February of that same season, spending only five months at the club. That same summer he had also signed for Atlético Luciano Vietto. Another player who did not have the expected performance and less after having seen his landing at Villarreal with 20 goals in his debut in the Yellow Submarine.
The boy comes home
The 2014-15 season was the one with the big change upstairs. The march of Costa and Villa caused the incorporation of Mandzukic and Raúl Jiménez as tips and Griezmann to play behind them. The Croatian started very well, with a key goal in the Spanish Super Cup against Madrid and reaching 20 points in February, but from there it dried up. The Mexican for his part was only able to see the door once, a version very far from that shown in recent seasons at Wolverhampton. To alleviate this lack of success, Atlético recovered Fernando Torres in that month of January 2015. And the Child returned all the affection to his people with a good performance despite being in the twilight of his career. He made six goals in those first months back and in the three full seasons that it was, it reached ten highs: 12, 10 and 10 before leaving for Japan.
Villa, a true champion
A year earlier, Atlético had achieved glory with the league title and the Champions League final. And he did it with a huge Villa accompanying Costa en punta. A signing with little flash, since Falcao had left and he was already a veteran, away from the focus in Barcelona, but who gave a fantastic performance with Simeone. The Asturian scored 13 league goals proving that old rockers never lose their talent and that that innate sense of goal never goes away.
Falcao, the '9' par excellence
If you look back, the year before it had been the return of a great Diego Costa from his assignment to Rayo. It ended up being a signing, since in principle he was not going to stay, but he convinced Cholo by flying in training. It was the ideal complement to a Falcao that had arrived in the summer of 2011, months before Simeone took over the team. The Colombian scored 70 goals in 91 games, without a doubt one of the best 'nines' in the history of Atlético.