Atlético's stars lose their shine when they decide to leave

He Athletic has gotten used to lose precious pieces of your team with some regularity. The market rules and the rojiblanco team does not have the economic power of Madrid, Barça, Bayern, PSG … and practically the entire Premier League despite being well above the UEFA ranking (4th). Some casualties that suppose a headache for Simeone, but they are not always accompanied by a sporting jump for the players who leave. It's more, few footballers among those who decided to leave Atleti being important in the Cholo scheme have given a better version of themselves outside

There are cases where the players who come out of Simeone's protection yes toThey increase their record, but not its soccer significance. The last case is that of Lucas Hernandez, current champion of the Champions with Bayern. A huge title, but opposed to protagonism that he had at Atleti, something that helped him to be a starter in the World Cup that he raised with France. With Bayern has disputed only 155 minutes in the entire European tournament.

In Lisbon he had six minutes in the quarterfinals against Barcelona, ​​with a huge result and to give rest to an exhausted Alphonso Davies, but He did not play against Olympique Lyon in the semifinals or in the final against PSG despite the physical problems of Boateng and Süle. Nor had he done it in the round of 16 against Chelsea. The explosion of Davies on the left side, he has fully seated Alaba as center back, something that causes Lucas have three centrals ahead and two left sides as first options before him, although with his youth he will probably end up taking a niche after becoming the most expensive signing in the history of the Bayern (80 million).

Griezmann and Arda, Barcelona factor

Less successful has been Griezmann's first year. The second he did accept Barcelona's offer, who paid his clause (120 million), and headed for form what a priori was a dream forward with Messi and Suárez. In the case of French, it has had minutes (3,503) although in the most important matches such as against Bayern or Atlético himself he was a substitute. Although their numbers are not bad at all, with 15 goals scored, its significance in the game was much less than expected. Also, that scoring figure is the lowest since Real Sociedad, without point of comparison with their five years at Atlético, where it became the star and rojiblanco benchmark. Barcelona did not win any title, lived a terrible season finale with 2-8 against Bayern and the 2020-21 campaign has started even worse, with the Messi case concentrating all the covers.

Griezmann followed the steps of an Arda Turan what in 2015 changed Atlético for Barcelona. The Turk was a real rojiblanco leader, the most technically gifted player, who put pause, work and his character at the service of Cholo. A fantastic footballer who undoubtedly lived his best years at Atlético. If Erika Choperena, Griezmann's partner, warned the Frenchman that in the history of Barcelona “You will be one more” is what happened to Arda when he arrived at the Camp Nou. With Iniesta, Rakitic, Neymar, Messi… you had to win a position and in the Barça system there was no such indoor position with freedom of movement. Military two years of blaugrana, when he stopped counting for Valverde and He ended up reviled linking assignments until he was free the last summer, when he signed with Galatasaray. A ruinous economic operation for Barça, but also a sporting one for Atlético, which has not found a player for five years to fill the gap left by the Turk when he left.

In the Galatasaray has met with Falcao, another of the players who lived his best days at Atlético. In the case of the Colombian, injuries have influenced a lot. The breakage of his knee when he was a Monaco player has weighed down his career and his time in the Premier (Manchester United and Chelsea) was with more pain than glory. Yes he recovered a great version in the Monegasque team before heading to Turkey, but at Atlético he had possibly become the best '9' of the moment. 70 goals in 91 games, infinite resources in the area and a feeling that their separation was not beneficial to the player.

In other cases, the performance of the crack was not bad, but it did not reach the same version as that of rojiblanco. This is what happened to Diego Costa, signed by Chelsea in the summer of 2014 after the league title and that, despite leaving three great seasons in England, he did not hesitate when he was able to return to Atlético, where in that year before leaving he had scored 36 goals in the best season of his career. At the same time Filipe Luis had left, which only lasted a year before returning from Chelsea to Atleti.

Something that shows that it is not easy to find that space of comfort that Atlético offers and that leadership that they could have players like Griezmann or Arda at the club and not like that in Barcelona. The reverse has also happened, when incorporating footballers such as Gaitan or Jackson, who led their old teams and couldn't do it at Atlético. What is clear to coveted players like Thomas or Giménez, is that leaving Simeone's protection when you have already managed to fit into his system deserves to think twice.