MADRID --
Pretty much all the profiles and features focusing on Atletico Madrid ahead of last Saturday's UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid took a similar view -- a scrappy, aggressive side which made up in spirit what it lacked in resources, compared to their richer and more talented neighbors in the Spanish capital.
But in this piece the more business focused Bloomberg really hammered home the reality of Atletico's shocking finances. A La Liga club being in debt is not necessarily news, but a director admitting he had to even use his own personal home as collateral to secure funds to keep the club afloat was pretty unique.
Atletico are over $700 million in debt, with annual club revenues which reach only about five percent of that figure. Gil admitted that he had used external investors from Azerbaijan, the United States and Kazakhstan to help pay wages and transfer fees. This is not the kind of talk you would expect at the top level of European soccer, where clubs generally either have billionaire owners (Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain) or the ability to generate huge sums of revenue (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich).
Gil's revelation also suggests that even the extra cash generated by his club's La Liga win and Champions League run will not make a huge difference to the club's financial situation -- and a tradition which has seen stars such as Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Radamel Falcao sold for big money in recent years will continue.
After Atletico had come so close on Saturday at the Estadio da Luz, before eventually being beaten by Madrid's galactico-ridden side, Simeone was asked about his expectations for the summer's transfer window. The Argentine coach revealed that there was a meeting already planned on their return to Madrid where he and the club's directors would decide on the "ins" and "outs" to come.
"We will meet with [Jose Luis] Caminero, Andrea [Berta], Miguel Angel [Gil] and Clemente [Villaverde] to prepare the team for next season," Simeone said. "We will see about the exits, the arrivals, the lads who might leave and the intentions of those who could come in."
Reports after that meeting took place Monday morning suggested that the club wanted to keep last season's 36 goal top scorer Diego Costa, although the smart money remains on a $50 million move to Chelsea. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also seems likely to be playing at Stamford Bridge next year. With Costa being one of the players whose rights have been ceded to third-party investors, and Courtois returning to Chelsea after a loan spell, neither exit will raise much money to buy replacements.
The summit at the Estadio Vicente Calderon also discussed the futures of Atletico attacker David Villa, midfielders Jose Sosa, Tiago Mendes, Cristian Rodriguez and Diego Ribas, and reserve goalkeeper Dani Aranzubia. All are now out of contract. Atletico must negotiate with Villa's former club Barcelona to get him for another season, while Ukranian's Metalist Kharkiv will demand a hefty fee to make Sosa's loan deal permanent. Diego is set for Turkish side Fenerbahce, while the futures of Tiago and Rodriguez also look outside Spain.
More positively for Atletico fans is that nine players have followed Simeone's lead by signing new long term contracts at the club in the last year, including key first teamers Joao Miranda, Juanfran Torres, Koke, Arda Turan and Diego Godin. Bigger, richer, clubs are sure to try and tempt many of these assets with even fatter contracts. At least one or two are likely to accept, with Koke especially likely to be a target for clubs including Manchester United, Bayern and Barca.
Simeone -- and the club's technical staff -- will then have to use their contacts and know-how in the transfer market to fill any gaps in the squad. Speculation is mounting over a move for Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who wants to return to Spain after a season on loan at Napoli last year. Atletico fans would love to see their former hero Fernando Torres back from Chelsea to replace Costa, but the now 30 year-old would need to accept a big pay cut to make any deal happen.
Definitely returning are youngsters Oliver Torres and Saul Niguez, after impressing on loan at Villarreal and Rayo Vallecano respectively last season. Saul, who although just 19, was named Rayo's fans player of the season after impressing with physically and tactically mature performances in midfield. Atletico fans hope he will be playing alongside, not instead of, fellow home grown youngster Koke for many campaigns to come.
The best hope for Atletico is that the team's success over recent years has been built around a team ethic which counts more than any one player. Recreating that group spirit in a much-changed squad could be the biggest challenge yet of Simeone's coaching career.
