Atletico have acquired quite a knack of signing forwards, and then selling them on after prolific stints in the red-and-white stripes.
Martinez only arrived in the summer from Porto for £26m (Dh140m), and while he has struggled to find the net (3 goals in 22 games), that hasn’t deterred Guangzhou from handing over a record fee for the Colombian.
The 29-year-old’s sale has seen Atletico recoup an extra £5m (Dh26.9m), making him in the latest in a long line of profitable striking commodities, adding up to almost £100 million worth of profit.
CHRISTIAN VIERI, 1997-98 – Profit £11.4m (Dh61.4m)
One of the deadliest strikers of his generation, Christian Vieri has enough former employers to his name to make a Sicilian mobster squirm.
Fresh off a debut season with Juventus, in which he top scored for the club en route to winning the Scudetto and reaching the Champions League final, the marksman found himself whisked off to Madrid for £7.6m (Dh40.9m). After one highly impressive season with Atletico, in which he banged in 29 goals in 32 games, the cheque book was out again to bring him home.
Lazio stumped up £19m (Dh102.3m)to bring him back to Rome, where he stayed for… one season.
FERNANDO TORRES, 2000-07 – Profit £20m (Dh107.6m)
Revered in Madrid having come through the Atletico youth team, El Nino became the club’s youngest ever captain when he took the armband in 2003 aged just 19.
Despite links to Chelsea early in his career, Torres remained in Madrid until 2007, when the club finally cashed in on their homegrown asset. After finding the net 91 times in 244 appearances for his boyhood club, the striker left for Liverpool and the English Premier League.
In return for the services of their captain, Atletico received a reported £20m (Dh107.6m) plus Luis Garcia.
SERGIO AGUERO, 2006-2011 – Profit £16.7m (Dh90m)
The diminutive Argentine briefly shared a stage with Torres, but became a central character once the Spaniard left the club in 2007.
Bought from his hometown club Independiente for £17.5m (Dh94.2m) as an 18-year-old in 2006, Aguero became a pivotal figure for Atletico, forming a deadly partnership with Diego Forlan. ‘Kun’ earned a slew of admires while in Spain, most notably Manchester City, who coughed up £34.2m (Dh184m) for the forward in the summer of 2011.
After five highly prolific seasons, in which he registered 101 goals in 234 games, Aguero left La Liga behind and set his sights on terrorising English defences – something he has done pretty convincingly!
Radamel Falcao, 2011-13 – Profit £15m (Dh 80.7m)
By the time the Colombian arrived in Madrid for £30.5m (Dh164m) from Porto, Atletico were getting used to incorporating new strikers into their side, and turning them into household names.
After a prolific spell in Portugal, Falcao transformed himself into one of the best, and most sought after, forwards in the world during his time in the Spanish capital. He spent two goal-laden years with Atletico, striking a staggering 70 times in 91 appearances.
When Monaco came calling in 2013, Atletico accepted an offer believed to have been in the region of £45m and watched the striker head to France.
Diego Costa, 2007-2014 – Profit £31m (Dh 161.5m)
The Brazilian’s journey to the top was much more of a struggle than any of his predecessors. Costa first arrived in Madrid in 2007 from Braga for £1m (Dh5.4m) but spent years out on loan with a number of less glamorous Spanish clubs.
Costa mustered only 8 goals in 39 games in 2010-11, but following Falcao’s departure to Monaco, the Brazilian flourished – hitting 56 goals in 96 games in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
After a pair of prolific campaigns, Chelsea shelled out £32m (Dh 172.2m) to bring the volatile front man to west London in the summer of 2014.
