With the signing of Kevin Gameiro, Atletico Madrid have made the perfect addition to address their squad’s only deficiency: a reliable partner for Antoine Griezmann.
Manager Diego Simeone was frustrated by a range of options last season, which started with the arrival of Jackson Martinez in an ill-fated move which saw the Colombian last only a few months before being packed off to China.
Youngsters Lucian Vietto and Angel Correa also struggled to deliver on a consistent basis, and in the end Simeone was forced to fall back upon the declining powers of Fernando Torres.
Fortunately, the former club captain further enhanced his iconic status at the Vicente Calderon by reviving his career with a splendid final few months of the campaign, which ended so cruelly with a penalty shoot-out defeat in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
But Torres, clearly, is not a longterm option and the aftermath of that devastating European final loss was dominated by suggestions that Simeone was threatening to quit unless the club’s board backed him in the transfer market with the recruitment of a world class striker.
For a long time, Diego Costa was the preferred option as Simeone licked his lips at the prospect of bringing back a barnstorming frontman who had terrorised La Liga’s defences en route to the securing an unlikely league title triumph in 2013/14.
Chelsea’s apparent reluctance to do a deal, although it now looks like he may be available, forced Atletico to look elsewhere, and ultimately they may have ended up with an even better option in the form of Gameiro.
Everything about the pocket dynamo’s arrival from Sevilla looks right. For starters, he is a proven goalscorer on the Spanish and European stages, having netted 29 goals last season as Sevilla lifted the Europa League for the third consecutive year.
First look: Kevin Gameiro is presented by @Atleti pic.twitter.com/NZIuLAD3Ef
— La Liga Daily (@LaLigaDaily) July 31, 2016
Gameiro’s style of play perfectly suits his new club, with his relentless work ethic and lightening pace on the break fitting like a glove into the physically intense, counterattacking style employed by Simeone.
It certainly should help that Gameiro will team up with his fellow Frenchman Griezmann – whom he probably should also have partnered during the European Championships a few weeks ago.
The €32 million fee Atletico have paid also represents a very decent deal – especially considering they have invested roughly one third of the sum splashed out by Juventus on Gonzalo Higuain. And finally, despite everything he has achieved with Sevilla, Gameiro is hungry and has something to prove.
His only previous experience with a truly big club, PSG, went badly. And although winning the Europa League is very pleasant, Gameiro knows it does not compare with the major honours he can challenge for with his new club.
And challenging for major honours is certainly what Atletico will expect to do – once again -this season. This has been an excellent summer for Los Rojiblancos, starting when the threat of Simeone leaving was eventually averted.
Then, unlike previous recent summers which saw the departure of key players such as Arda Turan, Costa and Thibaut Courtois, Atletico succeeded in keeping their squad intact.
The fact that stars such as Griezmann, Saul Niguez, Koke and Jan Oblak have all pledged their futures to their current club rather than seeking their fortune elsewhere says an awful lot about how high the club’s reputation has risen under Simeone.
Even after winning La Liga a couple of years ago they were realistically not a big enough club to keep hold of a player like Costa, whose move to Chelsea came with a sense of inevitability.
That is no longer the case. Atletico have truly established themselves in world football’s elite, and superstars like Griezmann know they can achieve everything imaginable by staying under the stewardship of Simoeone.
And now, with Gameiro arriving to add his firepower, they possess a squad which cannot really be faulted. The days of Spain’s ‘big two’ are well and truly over. Atletico are here to stay.
