Alvarez, Gallagher, Guerra and the rest: Can Atletico Madrid afford a €200m summer spend? (2024)

Amid a pretty quiet summer of La Liga transfers, Atletico Madrid have been making waves with a potential spend heading towards €200million in less than a week.

The Athletic reported on Tuesday that Atletico had agreed a deal worth up to €95million (£81.7m; $103.6m) to sign Argentina forward Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, with personal terms also reached later in the day.

The Metropolitano outfit already signed Spain’s Euro 2024 winning centre-back Robin Le Normand from Real Sociedad for €34.5million in July, while Norwegian centre-forward Alexander Sorloth joined on Saturday for €32m, having finished as La Liga’s second-top scorer with 23 goals for Villarreal last season.

Atletico also seem interested in bringing in 24-year-old England midfielder Conor Gallagher, in a potential deal worth about €40million. Meanwhile, talks advanced with Valencia about their €25m-rated 21-year-old Spanish midfielder Javi Guerra — though that deal now appears to be off.

All this has led to great excitement among fans and talk of a potential title challenge to city neighbours Real Madrid over 2024-25. It’s also led some to wonder how a club not known historically for its financial health could have so much money to be investing this summer.

How can Atletico afford this?

Atletico are comfortably the third-richest club in La Liga, well behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, but with revenues significantly ahead of other clubs of a historically similar level such as Sevilla and Valencia. Atletico’s most recent published accounts, covering the 2022-23 season, saw club annual income of €358million. Barca’s total for that period was €806m, and Real Madrid’s €843m.

The 2017 move from their old, creaking Vicente Calderon stadium to the modern, tourist-friendly Estadio Metropolitano has led to a significant increase in revenue. The sale of the Calderon site for the construction of apartment blocks also helped the club’s coffers.

Qualifying for the Champions League for 11 straight seasons under Diego Simeone’s management has also brought more financial stability in recent years (although a net financial debt of €514million is a reminder of long-standing issues).

A more immediate boost was a new share issue worth almost €70million last month, with the club’s owners (companies called Atletico HoldCo and Quantum Pacific) paying €50m and €20m respectively for new shares.

As we will see below, they have also made some key player sales this summer.

What about meeting La Liga’s salary rules?

Atletico began the summer looking to clear out many of the highest earners on their wage bill.

Spain centre-forward Alvaro Morata was sold to AC Milan for €13million, with Atletico accepting a relatively low fee for the 31-year-old in order to save on his wages. Another attacking player left in Memphis Depay, with both sides agreeing it was best for the 30-year-old Netherlands international to move on.

Midfielder Saul Niguez, now 29, signed a bumper nine-year contract back in 2017 but his form has dipped in recent seasons and he has been loaned to Sevilla (although Atletico will still be picking up some of his wages).

✍ @AlvaroMorata is Rossonero 🔴⚫

Adding a touch of 𝑅𝑜𝑗𝑜 to our #DNACMilan 🧬#SempreMilan

— AC Milan (@acmilan) July 19, 2024

Atletico have also made savings at the back, with four defenders having departed already this summer. Stefan Savic, 33, had 12 months left on his deal but was allowed to leave for free to Trabzonspor. Mario Hermoso, 29, was not offered an extension after his contract ended in June. Former Leicester player Caglar Soyuncu, 28, was sold for €8million to Fenerbahce, where he was on loan last season. Ex-Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Paulista, 33, who only joined last January from Valencia, has also moved on.

All this has left space within Atletico’s La Liga salary limit — which they have been busy filling in the last few days.

What other transfers might still happen?

Beyond the signings of Le Normand and Sorloth, Atletico’s summer business is unlikely to be over.

The addition of a new midfielder looks close, although whether that will be Gallagher or Guerra remains to be seen. Atletico have tracked the Chelsea player all summer, and his athletic box-to-box style would be a good fit for Simeone’s tactical approach. Although Guerra is a more technical playmaker, the close connection between Valencia owner Peter Lim and Atletico’s hierarchy could help get that deal done.

Another complicating factor is that Alvarez would be Atletico’s third non-EU player (along with fellow Argentinian Nahuel Molina and Brazilian Samuel Lino, who are both important for Simeone). That might make it hard to register British passport holder Gallagher.

Striker Samu Omorodion also has a key role in the chain of transfer operations. In June, Atletico rejected an offer of €32.5million (plus add-ons) from Chelsea for the 20-year-old, a member of the Spain squad that will play for an Olympic gold medal against host nation France on Friday.

Atletico’s keenness to raise the funds to sign Alvarez, however, means that they could accept a higher offer from Chelsea. Omorodion only joined Atletico from Granada for €6million last summer, scoring nine La Liga goals on loan at Alaves last season.

The future of Joao Felix, who remains out of favour with Simeone, is the biggest issue still to be resolved at Atleti. The club hierarchy would ideally like to sell the Portuguese playmaker and recoup as much as possible of the €127million they paid Benfica in July 2019. Joao Felix’s performances since then, including on loan at Chelsea and Barcelona, have made that difficult.

There is also a concern among some close Atletico-watchers about the balance of Simeone’s current squad. World Cup and Copa America winner Alvarez is acknowledged as an excellent addition to the team, while Le Normand and Sorloth are proven La Liga performers. However, four defenders have left this summer and only Le Normand has arrived. That came after last season saw the most goals conceded in any of Simeone’s 11 full seasons in charge: 68 in 54 games in all competitions.

It all points to the always-existing tensions over transfers at Atletico, where Simeone has a say but does not always get his way. Atletico chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin ultimately holds the purse strings, and long-serving sporting director Andrea Berta manages negotiations. Last January, Carlos Bucero, who previously worked with Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, joined the club in a new football director role.

What about longer-term plans?

Many within the Spanish football industry believe Atletico will be sold to foreign investors at some point in the future.

The club’s current complicated ownership structure sees the Atletico HoldCo company controlling 70 per cent of shares, with Israeli company Quantum Pacific owning the other 30 per cent. American investors Ares Management Corporation have a 34 per cent stake in the Atletico HoldCo company, with Gil Marin and club president Enrique Cerezo controlling the remaining 66 per cent.

This summer saw Gil Marin lay the ceremonial first stone in a project to build a new training ground on a site beside Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium. When that is ready, the club’s existing facility in the upmarket suburb of Majadahonda will become a very valuable real estate asset.

Simeone’s long-term future at Atletico was uncertain before he signed a new contract last November. That deal included a pay cut and runs to 2027. So much money being spent this summer on players in their mid and late 20s, without much obvious resale value, suggests a push for short-term success on the pitch.

Whatever the motivations involved, and however the final weeks of the transfer window play out, it looks like being a very interesting season at the Metropolitano.

(Top photo: Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)

Dermot joined The Athletic in 2020 and has been our main La Liga Correspondent up until now. Irish-born, he has spent more than a decade living in Madrid and writing about Spanish football for ESPN, the UK Independent and the Irish Examiner. Follow Dermot on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan