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The most expensive things in the display case have a peculiarity: one is sure that they would look great in the closet of the house and, with a little effort, one almost convinced that they were necessary. But when you get to the checkout it goes black and white: can I really afford it?
It had happened to Atlético de Madrid in the past summer market, when it would have had a talented player ready to sign, which was necessary to connect good attackers and fast extremes, who has a left-footer with prestige in Europe: James Rodriguez.
It was then a luxury, an investment close to 50 million euros, but the team was eager to satisfy every wish of Diego Simeone, it was true that he had just disbursed 120 million euros for Joao Felix, but it was an investment in the future and instead the Colombian was the present, in a preseason in which the ‘Atleti’ aimed to sweep in Spain and Europe.
But reality changed at a stroke. And it wasn’t just because of the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Of course, the suspension of football in the world, the impossibility of playing and billing on television and at the box office, and the certainty that this could extend throughout 2020, are to blame for the virus. Someone would say that also the ERTE (economic emergency measure) that the club had to implement to pay the salaries of its employees in the midst of the crisis, however, and that the staff already reduced their income by 70 percent. It may be because the signings were mortgaged to income that, at least in the short term, will not come.
And then also came the sports theme. Simeone’s project soon sank in the Spanish LaLiga, where many hopes were pinned. They did not take advantage of the managerial uncertainty of FC Barcelona with the departure of Valverde or the ‘pale’ of Real Madrid that ZInedine Zidane corrected in time, and the title, even before the pandemic, was, as usual, a matter of two .
The unexpected Champions League remains, which in the draw seemed lost with the crossing against Liverpool but in the field (in the game they blame for the expansion of the covid-19), by force of the already known Simeone effect, became a surprise by taking the ultra-favorite out of the running. Something is there to resolve underlying doubts about the signings that do not prosper although they are very expensive …
And in that panorama James appears again. The rumor that this week runs through Colombia, about the possible arrival of the player at the Wanda Metropolitano, has, strictly speaking, no sources in Atlético, where, according to Mundo Deportivo, “they will not make large disbursements (unless there are large sales).”
In fact, the media assures that “in reality, it is James himself who is crazy to put himself under the command of Diego Simeone and play for the Metropolitan”. And there are plenty of arguments because the ‘none’ of Zinedine Zidane, regardless of whether it was fair or not, adds an internal competition that already devoured him with Rodrygo, Vinicius, Isco and others, and that now, with the recovery of Asensio , practically leaves you with no options.
It is not new that the player wants to live in Madrid, that he prefers to try himself in LaLiga and not venture as he already did, without success, in Germany, and that in Spain only Atlético offers him the option to fight up, for titles and successes, and not just to gain continuity … what is a case would already be profit.
This time the business would be very different: according to Transfermarket, its value fell to 35 million euros, and apart from that, its link with Real Madrid is until 2021, which, in clear terms, would allow it to extend the talks until December to go free and invoice. the Commission.
The option is there and James has shown that when he gets ‘crazy’ about something, he usually convinces Jorge Mendes and achieves his goal. Will there be a way for Atlético to follow the rope this time? That is the part of the story that still needs to be told. In the end, to dance you need two …
