Manu Sánchez, an unsolved mystery at Atlético

Manu Sánchez (20 years old) has lost his place in Simeone's plans. The youth squad, who is already a full-fledged player of the first team (They gave him a professional number and not just any), he is barely having opportunities to jump onto the pitch in the games that the rojiblancos have played so far. Of the 630 minutes that the colchoneros have played in seven games, Manu has only participated in 49, accumulated in a single duel (against Celta on the sixth day of LaLiga), in which also gave the assistance of the first goal to Luis Suárez. In the rest, either he has remained on the bench the entire match or, directly, nor has he been called up, as happened against Bayern and Betis. It seems that everything is due to a technical issue, since the player has regularly participated in training as one of the group no physical issue has been made public.

This disappearance of the youth squad is striking when he has been a player who He counted for the Argentine coach in the final stages of the last league, getting to participate in four games, three of them as a starter, in the 11 games that were played after the stoppage due to the coronavirus. Manu started the season in the subsidiary, since Atlético opted to have Lodi as the only specialist in that position and use Hermoso or Saúl when necessary. However, that experiment did not go well and the youth squad had his first opportunity with the majors on matchday 17 of LaLiga against Osasuna at the Wanda Metropolitano (2-0). However, he did not play again for a while, although he frequently entered the calls. His situation changed after the break, since he alternated the position with the Brazilian, being his replacement when he was not available, whether due to injury, penalty or rest. In total, last year Manu was 446 'on the pitch, spread over six games.

The left side had a busy summer in which he was close to leaving the entity, but circumstances made him finally stay and be one of the rojiblanca squad. Once the season is over, Atlético decided that they wanted to have a replacement for Lodi, but preferred that he be a player with more experience in the first level. Thus, the plan was to give in to Manu and bring in a proven player. The chosen one was the Brazilian Caio Henrique, who belonged to the entity, but was on loan to the Guild of his country, where he had recycled from midfielder to left-handed winger. The rojiblancos played him back and, in parallel, They agreed with Osasuna the loan for a season of the youth squad. However, when the operation was in need only of the signature to become official, Monaco was interested in Caio and signed him in exchange for eight million euros and two in variables.

That caused Manu's departure will be paralyzed while waiting to sign another player who could give Lodi a rest. The main candidate was the Uruguayan Olivera, from Getafe, with which an agreement was reached for its incorporation. But nevertheless, the negotiations with the azulón club did not come to fruition and the signing was frustrated, causing Manu will finally stay, but not before renewing until 2025 with Atlético. It seemed that this year he would consolidate in the first team, being the first alternative in the left lane, but for the moment Simeone has preferred to bet on Hermoso in that position when it has been necessary. This weekend the colchoneros play again (on Saturday 31 at 18:30 hours El Sadar against Osasuna, precisely the team that Manu was going to go to) and perhaps the canterano can enjoy a new opportunity due to the great load of matches of the colchoneros in recent weeks, playing every three days.