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Diego Simeone wants Luis Suárez to improve Álvaro Morata’s scoring start and to be the catalyst that turns Atlético de Madrid into a challenger for the LaLiga title after his departure from Barcelona.
Suárez completed a change of 6 million euros from Barça on Friday, signing a two-year contract with Atleti following a largely bitter departure from the Camp Nou.
The 33-year-old Uruguayan striker reaches third place in Barça’s all-time scorers table in his six years at the club and scored 16 in the last league, a respectable figure given he made just 22 starts and missed a significant portion of the season through injury.
Ronald Koeman revealed in his press conference on Saturday that, although he was planning to rule out Suárez anyway, the decision to transfer the former Liverpool star had already been made before the Dutchman’s arrival.
But one man’s trash is another’s treasure, and Simeone is convinced that Suárez’s impact on the Metropolitan Wanda could be massive, challenging him to improve on the 12 LaLiga goals that Morata scored last season, who was allowed to go to Juventus.
Simeone: “WWhen Suarez’s option appeared, what was he going to say? “
“The arrival of Suárez encourages us to continue growing,” Simeone told reporters, who also confirmed that the forward is in the squad for Atlético’s first game of the season at home against Granada on Sunday.
“He will give us internal competition. He is a forward who has impressive offensive power and hopefully he can continue to produce the numbers that he has been doing in the past.
“These six years [at Barca] it has been wonderful [for Suarez]. His colleagues have received him with enthusiasm, we hope that he will adapt as soon as possible.
“We all know him, he is a great reference for the team. Given Álvaro’s option to leave, the best way to continue improving was to look for someone who could improve Álvaro’s scoring contribution, and when Suárez appeared, What was I going to say? Their numbers speak for themselves.
“We were lucky that when we had a really good [Radamel] Falcao, a very good [Diego] Coast or a very good [Antoine] Griezmann, we were close to fighting for everything. Let’s hope that with Luis Suárez it will be like that and we can overcome what we did last season ”.
Atlético finished third in LaLiga last season, 17 points behind Real Madrid that, although certainly solid, was not spectacular in winning the title.
Six teams, including visiting Granada on Sunday, scored more than Atlético in 2019-20, but Simeone feels things will be different and Suárez has a point to prove.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I was convinced that this was the place where he could show that he was a first-rate forward,” added Simeone. “I found what I was looking for for this club: ambition and the desire to be here.
“I hope he gives us back the options we had when we had the best Falcao, the best Costa or the best Griezmann. That would mean getting closer to the successes that all fans want.”
