The crossroads of Atlético B

Atlético B has lived a critical season at the worst possible moment, in the middle of the reconstruction of Spanish football. After two consecutive seasons fighting for promotion to the Second Division, falling in the playoffs after fantastic performances with great generations of footballers looming, this course so atypical at the time of pandemic and doubts about the new system, They have finished with the mattress club, descending suddenly two categories and having to contest the new Third RFEF from the next campaign.

In the first instance he was one victory against Navalcarnero to avoid losing the first category. The match ended in a draw and it was necessary to fight for a relegation playoff so that the fall was not double. The first two classified and the two best third parties were saved, but Atlético finished fourth, with Melilla and Socuéllamos remaining in the Second RFEF and also losing the place Puebla as the worst third. Thus, the worst news was consummated, and now Atlético must consider a great dilemma about the future of its second team. The club is attentive in case a place is available in the First RFEF or in the Second, but legally it seems complicated.

Now, the main dilemma is what to do with the main figures of the second team. Borja Garcés (Fuenlabrada), Germán Valera (Tenerife) and Sanabria (Zaragoza), they followed in the winter market the path they had taken Riquelme (Bournemouth), Manu Sánchez (promoted to the first team and then left for Osasuna), Cedric (first Oviedo and then Albacete) or Darío Poveda (Getafe) among others and left on loan to gain experience in a higher category. Mollejo (who will continue in Mallorca after his promotion) or Montero, they repeated loans and Óscar Clemente, Dos Santos or Carlos Isaac they left the club last summer.

Atleti B has been under the command of the Academy, seeking to prioritize the evolution of its players and to go up youth so that they had their opportunities in a very young team, with an average age that does not reach 21 years. But, in the interests of Simeone, the jump between the Third RFEF (fifth category of national football) and the First Division is enormous and Cholo has pulled the second team for training sessions, solving difficulties in the first team and even having opportunities in Copa del Rey or League (This season only Ricard participated in the closed domestic competition with the title). With the Argentine coach 36 homegrown players have debuted, although it has been difficult to find continuity beyond Saúl, Óliver, Lucas, Thomas and more recently Manu Sánchez.

Now, it's time for you loan players return to their club of origin, but after playing most of them in Second, the Third RFEF would be a step back in his career. Some of them like Manu Sánchez or Borja Garcés have left very good feelings in their assignments and they have been done with many, many minutes. And in Atleti B itself there are players with a huge future and some with a slightly above average age who will have to analyze their future. Sergio Camello has been a regular in the first team's training sessions and a wild card in the calls of Simeone when there were absences above. Ricard has counted in the League and Cup, San Román has served the entire year as third goalkeeper, Toni Moya has been captaining the team for years, Álvaro García puts security and experience in the center of defense and Mario Soriano, Simeone or Javi Serrano they have continued to evolve as the new generation of rojiblancos footballers.

It remains to be seen how the new athletic project develops, with the first and great objective of recovering categories to be closer to the elite as soon as possible (do not forget that Atleti B finished second in the Second Division in the 1998-99 season), but also taking care of the future of its main figures and taking into account the three categories that are above (Second RFEF, First RFEF and Second Division) before reaching the highest division. If a continuation project is expected after the league title at Atlético, It will be a busy summer in the offices of the second mattress team.