The Atletico Madrid announced on Wednesday afternoon the signing of the Axel Witsel. The 33-year-old midfielder arrives at the rojiblanco club as a free agent, after finishing his contract with the Borussia Dortmund, in which he played for the last four seasons.
He thus becomes the fourth Belgian footballer in the entire history of Atlético de Madrid. All almost in the last decade. All with Diego Simeone as coach. Because despite the fact that the mattress team will be 120 years old in April, until 2011 they had never had a player of this nationality in their ranks.
The way was opened by Thibaut Courtois. After trying to sign the young goalkeeper, Genk ended up transferring him to Chelsea. Atlético obtained his loan in the summer of 2011 and spent three seasons at the Calderón, winning four titles (League, Copa del Rey, Europa League and Continental Super Cup) and two Zamora trophies.
In his last year as a rojiblanco, Courtois coincided in the Manzanares locker room with Toby Alderweireld. The center-back, signed from Ajax for seven million, contributed to the conquest of the 2014 League but later left on loan to Sunderland and one later would be transferred to Tottenham in exchange for 16 million euros. He now plays for Qatar’s Al-Duhail.
2015 was the year in which a young Belgian who played for Monaco arrived at Atlético, Yannick Carrasco. 15 ‘kilos’ were paid by the colchoneros for the talented winger, who in January 2018 was surprisingly transferred to Chinese football for 30 million. He returned two years later (first on loan and then owned), and in 20/21 he was an important part of Atlético’s conquest of LaLiga.
Titles in all teams
Now he is one of the heavyweights in the squad and one of the reasons for Witsel to sign for Atlético. The objective of the fourth Belgian in the history of the rojiblanco club will be to triumph and, like his three compatriots, lift a title under the command of Simeone. Something that will not be new for him, since he has won championships in all the teams in which he has played except in China (Standard of Lieja, Benfica, Zenit and Borussia Dortmund).
read also