Moussa Dembélé has already had his first contact with the Atlético coaching staff. The French trained for the first time in Majadahonda with the clear mission of seizing your great opportunity. The forward himself pointed out in his first impressions as an rojiblanco that “it is a great challenge for me. This is a great club known throughout the world. It is a big step for me. I'm delighted and can't wait to start“.
And it is that Dembélé arrives at Atlético for the next six months, but aware that the club has saved a purchase option of about 33.5 million in case he manages to conquer Simeone. By characteristics, everything indicates that it can do it. At 24, he has qualities that contrast and complement Luis Suárez, the other end of the template. A running power, the ability to attack into space and an option to stretch the team that the Uruguayan is finding it harder to contribute. When Atlético joins their lines closer to their area, as happened against Sevilla, they need a player who gives an outlet with open field and become a danger to centrals in speed.
The Frenchman arrives for cover the loss of a Diego Costa who always stood out in that facet, but in recent years he had been losing that acceleration peak that made it difficult for him to reach the danger zone. Except in case of excellent auctioneers like Suárez or Falcao, Simeone has used to bet on fast forwards who can highlight the counterattack, cases of Costa, Gameiro, Torres or Morata. The last two can serve as a great model for Dembélé, since they also they arrived on loan at a winter market and ended up staying.
Torres, his idol
In Torres's case, “my favorite boy player” As Dembélé explained, it was through a more complex operation. Cerci, who was not performing as a rojiblanco, He was on loan to Milan for a year and a half in exchange for Torres' return to the club in January 2015. Some 45,000 people filled the stands of the Vicente Calderón to be participants in the presentation of the Child on his return home. The '9' was re-released as a scorer with a double in the Cup against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu and began to win the place Manzdzukic.
Then Jackson Martínez would arrive, but he would also end up succumbing to Torres, who at the end of the year and a half on loan and with the letter of freedom in hand, signed for Atlético. In total it happened three and a half seasons in his second stage at the club and it was an important piece for Simeone, always starting the substitute theoretician course, but ending up taking the position, Champions final 2016 included. He played 160 games and scored 38 goals, two of them in a farewell that is already the history of Wanda Metropolitano.
Morata, scorer in just six months
Morata, for his part, signed for Atlético when the 2019 winter market was coming to an end. Loaned by Chelsea, but with a purchase option valued at about 55 million, the Madrilenian was important from day one. Despite his Madrid past, Morata opted for Atlético, a club in which he already played in the lower categories and where he had the great support of Simeone as a supporter of his incorporation. From day one it was important. From January to June did six goals in 17 games to finish as the team's second top scorer in the league after Griezmann and last season he finished with 16, 12 of them in the league, to be the team's top scorer by far. With the arrival of Suárez he left on loan to Juventus, where it is performing at a high level (11 goals in 19 games) and where the Italian team seems convinced that it will exercise its purchase option.
The goal by flag
“Mainly, I'm a forward and I like to score goals. That's my job. I like to run into space, receive the ball and score goals. I am a physical player, but with technique. I can't wait to start playing here. “That was Dembélé's own definition in his presentation as rojiblanco. Despite not having had a good start to the season, with a single goal scored in the 16 games he has played, the Frenchman has been Olympique Lyon's top scorer in the last two seasons. The last one he scored 24 goals in 46 games, closing his account with a double against Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The previous one had achieved 20 in 46 other games. In Scotland he had also made his mark, with a first season of 32 goals in 49 games and at just 20 years old England broke out with 17 goals in 44 games for Fulham. A player with the goal between eyebrows and eyebrows who knows that unleashing his full potential could lead to a future at rojiblanco, his great desire.