Is Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban bad or good news for Chelsea and Man Utd?
- Lorenzo Bettoni
Diego Simeone’s side were banned for two transfer windows one year ago due to some illicit transfer of under-age footballers. Barcelona had faced the same punishment back in 2015 and the same happened to Real Madrid 12 months ago although the Merengues’ ban was halved this past January.
The Colchoneros’ transfer ban is no good news for many European clubs that have set sights on some of the best players of Atletico. If the La Liga giants can’t sign new players, they will find it hard to sell their best footballers in the summer. Each La Liga player, however, has a release clause included in their contracts, including those of Atletico Madrid.
Manchester United targets Jose Maria Gimenez and Antoine Griezmann’s are € 65 million and € 100 respectively. The Red Devils can still sign them both by ‘simply’ matching their minimum transfer fee, which means Atletico’s transfer ban does not affect Manchester United too much, provided that the Red Devils are open to match the players’ release clauses.
Another big question is whether Atletico Madrid transfer ban is good or bad news for Chelsea. The Blues’ striker Diego Costa has just confirmed that he’d return to Atletico Madrid in case o Chelsea exit. The Colchoneros’ transfer ban won’t allow Simeone to reunite with his former striker in the Spanish capital and that could be either good or bad news for Chelsea given that the Spaniard could have left the Stamford Bridge for € 75 million in the summer. Diego Costa was regarded as Atletico Madrid’s top target to replace Griezmann and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea can afford to sign a new striker without selling Costa.