The soap opera Thomas had its final chapter yesterday, last day of the summer market. Arsenal had been behind the Atlético midfielder for approximately two months, but the rojiblancos refused to negotiate the departure of the Ghanaian and They only accepted that it came out for the amount of its clause (50 million euros). Londoners were reluctant to face that amount and they tried to lower it by including players in the operation, such as Lacazette and Guendouzi. Faced with the refusal of the mattress entity to accept another formula than the full payment of the value of their freedom, finally they deposited that figure in LaLiga and took over the services of Thomas.
He is not the first rojiblanco footballer who decides to leave facing the payment of his termination clause since the arrival of Simeone to the mattress bench (in December 2011). The first was Rodrigo, who signed for Manchester City in the summer of 2019 paying 70 million euros, the amount stipulated in your contract to be released. The midfielder, former Atlético player, He had come to the club only a year before from Villarreal. In that period under the command of Simeone played 47 games between all competitions, scoring three goals and giving two assists in 3675 minutes on the grass.
Last summer there were two more cases of Atlético footballers who packed their bags paying the amount of their freedom and with a common denominator: both were French and world champions. One of them was the left back Lucas Hernández, who had been in the club's youth soccer since 2007. The defender decided to leave for Munich to play for Bayern and his departure was announced in March, although it would not be effective until the end of the season. The price the Bavarians had to pay was 80 million euros (It was the amount of his clause, but there was an agreement between clubs). Luke left the entity after four seasons in the first template, in which participated in 110 duels between all competitions, scoring a goal and giving four passes on goal.
The other mattress footballer who left the team in the 2019 summer market was Griezmann, the flag of the rojiblanco project in recent years. The French He left for Barcelona after payment of the 120 million euros stipulated in his termination clause. However, subsequently the azulgranas paid 15 million more to settle a conflict with Atlético for the amount they should have paid for the player. Griezmann had arrived in the summer of 2014 at the club from Real Sociedad and he had become the emblem of the entity, being the top scorer of the team in all seasons. Total played 257 matches as rojiblanco between all competitions, getting 133 targets and giving 50 assists.
Heitinga, a special case
In addition, as a curiosity, there was another player who, like Thomas, decided to rush the market to leave the club, although not for the amount of the clause. Is about Johnny Heitinga, Dutch central defender who came to Atlético in the summer of 2008 from Ajax in exchange for 10 million euros and, just a year later, left for English Everton for about seven million. However, this operation had a peculiarity and it is that The sale took place with the Spanish transfer market already closed because the term ended in our country on August 31 and in the Premier on September 1, which enabled the Toffes to take over the Dutchman and made it impossible for the rojiblancos to sign a replacement due to their departure through an agreement and not “forced” by paying the value of their freedom.