Atlético plans change: João Felix and other stars on the sales list
Joao Felix
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Atlético Madrid probably wants to sell some players after the Champions League exit: does it also affect João Felix and Yannick Carrasco?
Spanish football is in crisis Atlético Madrid is the best example of this. The club even managed to Champions League to land behind Bayer 04 Leverkusen, which in the Bundesliga is now only granted to VfL Bochum and Schalke 04. At this point at the latest, the alarm bells should ring that one or the other has to be changed. Noisy Cadena SER some stars are on the sales list.
Atlético Madrid cannot be satisfied at all with the current first half of the season. In the league, the gap to long-term rivals Real and Barca is nine and eight points, respectively, and in the Champions League they were eliminated without a word behind FC Porto, football giants FC Bruges and the Werkself from Leverkusen obviously got bad pills from Bayer before this season.
Now some players are to be sold who are currently performing well below their actual level.
Record purchase João Felix before the end?
The most prominent name on the list of Cadena SER is João Felix. The Portuguese arrived from Benfica in the summer of 2019 for an incredible €129m. While the attacker undoubtedly has superior abilities, things aren’t going well for him at all. It wasn’t until Matchday 12 that he scored his first two goals of the season in La Liga with a brace, but it’s telling that the club still lost 3-2 at home to Cádiz.
Another farewell candidate is the Argentinian Rodrigo de Paul. The 28-year-old only joined from Udinese Calcio in the summer of 2021 and cost the Madrilenians €35m. In the current season, however, the central midfielder has mostly only made part-time appearances. In the Champions League, for example, he was allowed to play exactly one half three times. It looks like Atlético would prefer to go for Koke, Niguez and Llorente after all.
Lemar and Carrasco gone? Atlético would like to part with the wing duo
Yannick Carrasco finds himself in a similar situation. Winger has a starting eleven quota of exactly 50 percent in both the league and the Champions League. Really effectively he presented himself in la league not where he has one goal and zero assists. His record in the premier class is a little better, with one goal and two assists. However, we know what it brought, and it should also be mentioned that he defeated two of his three scorers Leverkusen marked. Quite a few players are currently able to do this against Bayer 04. With Carrasco, an Atlético veteran would still go. Aside from a trip to China that turned out to be a bad idea, the Belgian has been playing in the Spanish capital since 2015.
The last of the bunch is Thomas Lemar, who has been playing for Atlético since 2018 after being signed for 70 million euros from Monaco. However, the Frenchman never made the leap from talent to world-class player and has been rather mixed this season. In the league and champions league he managed a single scorer, although he was usually only allowed to play as a joker. Nevertheless, Lemar is a player who will probably not make the big leap anymore. The idea of a sale seems quite conclusive.
Maybe Simeone should just rethink his style of playing football. The offensive players in particular just don’t really come into their own, which is a shame with players like João Felix. The days when you could somehow choke your way through with one 1-0 after the other just seem to be over.
This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as Atlético plans change: João Felix and other stars on the sales list released.