Diego Simeone has hailed Atletico Madrid’s decision to sign Geoffrey Kondogbia after the reported Everton and Tottenham Hotspur target put pen to paper with the La Liga giants, as reported by El Desmarque.
It is fair to say Atleti know how to replace a key player.
This is a team who signed Antoine Griezmann to succeed Diego Costa, swapped Thibaut Courtois for Jan Oblak and brought in Renan Lodi when Filipe Luis’s storied Los Colchoneros career came to an end.
So it should be no surprise that, just weeks after being left incensed by Thomas Partey’s deadline day move to Arsenal, Atletico have invoked a La Liga clause to sign another aggressive, technically gifted midfield powerhouse from one of Spain’s biggest clubs.
The 2014 league champions were given special dispensation to sign Valencia’s Kondogbia outside the transfer window, completing an £18 million deal on Tuesday (Mail).
“The arrival of Kondogbia is going to generate more internal competition, more possibilities to play in different ways,” Simeone said of a former Sevilla ace who, not long ago, was viewed as arguably the finest defensive midfielder in Spain.
“This gives us having energy in the midfield than during the season, for all the competitions we have to face. (Kondogbia) will be very important.”
Sky reported earlier in the year that both Everton and Tottenham were keen on Kondogbia too, with the latter having first expressed an interest three years ago, when the Frenchman was struggling for game-time at Inter Milan.
FootMercato even claimed in July that Kondogbia was dreaming of a move to England with Spurs, at the time, looking like his most likely destination.
No wonder Simeone is thrilled to get his new midfielder through the door. Thomas may be gone but the Partey continues.
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