08/09 Top Squad as of 9-June-08
Posted by atleti on June 9, 2008
I added a new blog to my Blogroll, Rey de la Furia Española, and I like his most recent entry, so I will mimic it here, but in English and with some of my own thoughts.
GOALKEEPERS
LEO FRANCO
FALCÓN
CUELLAR
ABBIATI
COUPET (updated)
Abbiati has returned to Milan after his 07/08 season loan spell. Meanwhile, Cuellar will return to Madrid after his loan spell at Eibar, but will most likely be sent out on loan again or secure a permanent move to another club. Falcón‘s future seems in doubt at the moment; he had moments to play in 07/08 due to injuries sustained by Abbiati while Leo Franco was out injured, but he really doesn’t seem to be considered anything more than a third choice goalkeeper by the higher-ups. That leaves us with Leo Franco. Not a bad goalkeeper, but certainly not one of the best, it must be said. Hopefully he’ll return to good form this coming season.
Rumoured to be heading our way at this point: recently relegated Livorno’s Marco Amelia and Mallorca’s Miguel Angel Moyà.
DEFENDERS
ANTONIO LÓPEZ
SEITARIDIS
VALERA
PABLO
PEREA
ELLER
ZE CASTRO
PERNÍA
HEITINGA (updated)
UJFALUSI (updated)
THANK YOU GOD for the signings of Heitinga and Ujfalusi, two quality defenders. This should mean the end of Eller & Zé Castro. There’s also speculation that we will listen to offers for Seitaridis, Valera, & Pernía. If they do stay, they will not receive regular playing time as they’ve proven time and time again in 07/08 their limitations and weaknesses. These players are NOT Champions quality by any stretch of the imagination. Meanwhile, Pablo’s future seems a bit fuzzy at the moment; he had an awful 07/08 season and there was some talk of the club listening to offers for him some months ago, but I have not seen a similar headline recently. Perea & Antonio seem 100% certain to stay with the club.
So, in terms of additional signings, we need at least another solid centre-back and a right-back, I think.
MIDFIELDERS
RAÚL GARCÍA
CAMACHO
MOTTA
MANICHE
CLEBER SANTANA
MIGUEL
JURADO
SIMAO
MAXI
REYES
LUIS GARCÍA
Our only 08/09 certainties are: Maxi, Raúl García, Simão, and Motta. Reyes has said that he wishes to stay and prove his worth at the club after a fairly unimpressive 07/08. If Luis remains, he will most likely continue as a bench option. Meanwhile, the club are openly and actively seeking new clubs for black-listed Maniche and Cleber. Camacho could be sent out on loan– with England as a possible destination. Jurado has been linked with a move to Mallorca, at least some time ago, but it seems likely that the club will listen to offers for him. Miguel— who knows what will happen with him; perhaps he’ll be sent out on loan, if he wishes regular playing time.
If anything else, we desperately need a playmaker and a proper holding midfielder for 08/09.
STRIKERS
AGÜERO
FORLÁN
MISTA
BRAULIO
SINAMA-PONGOLLE (updated)
Slim options up front. Kun & Forlán will continue as our first choice strikers. Mista was underutilized in 07/08 and will probably leave the club this summer, thank goodness. Braulio returns from loan, but will the club keep him or find another club for him.
Lots of players rumoured to be headed our way, Sinama-Pongolle, Uche, Oliviera, etc. None of these names stand out to me, to be honest, except for maybe Oliviera.
Anyway, let’s see what develops in the next coming weeks! (Anything missing?)
Above all else, I hope that the club consider incorporating quality canteranos into the squad. It’s crucial to develop our own talent!
AUPA ATLETI Y SALUDOS A TODOS
Atlético de Madrid 
Ram said
We do not need any right back. Ufo, Heitinga, Perea (if needed), Seitaridis (if stays), Valera all can play there. Where we lack in quality is the left back position. We need to gift wrap Pernia and give to some club.
atleti said
You’re right! I think it all depends on who ends up staying and going. Either way, we’re definitely going to need a solid wing-back.
Willen said
Do they all play in right back? Do they play nice? knowing how to cross balls and stuff?
new rumor:
After engaging Paulo Assunçao, Atletico Madrid are thinking to complete their midfield with Parma’s Luca Cigarini; in this case the spanish club would probably renounce to Juventus’s Tiago, and this would complicate the piemontese club’s market plans.
Ram said
Ufo – Perea – Heitinga – A Lo.
This is how the prefered staring defence line is going to look like. Heitinga has experience playing as a right back and Ufo also does that regularly with Fiorentina.
atleti said
The only problem with your plan, Ram, is that we’ll have few quality options on the bench. We’ll be stretched.
miguel diaz said
It is a budget, priorities, needs issue. Do we need a creative midfielder? yes, of course, inmediately. Do we need a striker to alternate with Kun, Forlan or Both? Yes, please. Do we need a right back? Yes. Do we need a goalkeeper? Yes, why not.
In terms of priorities, if we had had to assign weightings to these priorities, then they would be the followings.
Midfielder. 10
striker. 6
right back. 2
goalkeeper. 1
In other words if I have to spend €20m for the midfielder, I should spend €12m for the striker, €4m for the right back and €1m for the goalkeeper. But our budget is almost nothing, €20m.
un abrazo. miguel
atleti said
I agree!! We need to be incredibly savvy in the transfer market because we have a fixed budget to work with.
Armon said
I want van der vaart! any of you guys catch the italy netherlands game?
Mohammed said
van der Vaart would be great but I don’t think he’s going to come easily. We need to show him the $$. I’m sure other teams will be following him. Abramovich would love to get his hands on him just to keep him on the bench like all the other players.
Ram said
Van der Vaart would be a dream signing, but Aguirre’ tactics wont have a player like him.
atleti said
Yeah, that would definitely be a dream signing, so I won’t even THINK about it at all because it won’t happen in a million years! :)
atleti said
‘AS’ claims that if we make a move for Sinama, that Recre will want Braulio. Why don’t we just keep Braulio, if that rumour is to be believed?!
Ram said
I don’t think Braulio have proved anything so far to be the third striker, whereas Sinama has played decent enough for the last couple of seasons. Not that I want Sinama…but when we comapre Sinama- Braulio that is my view.
atleti said
It sounds like we can cross Uche off the rumour list.
atleti said
Thank goodness!!!
Ram said
And the club prefers Oliveira over Sinama which is good news.
Armon said
theres rumors that nasri’s deal with arsenal is falling out and that atletico have a chance of signing him. i think that would be absolutely amazing, he’s a phenominal playmaker
danny said
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid friendly (8th August @ Anfield) pencilled in. Cannot wait for it to go ahead, if we draw you in qualifying I’d expect the friendly to be called off.
Lot of LFC fans want to see Garcia again, even if it is only from the bench.
Should be a good occassion, looking forward to it, tickets will be difficult to get hold of though :s
atleti said
Ya! I read that we’re trying to lure NASRI here by saying that we’d give him more playing time than if he were at Arsenal. HUMO HUMO HUMO at this point!!!
Valladolid are rumoured to want Braulio.
Paulo Assunçao is said to be on his way to the club in July 1…anyone know anything about this guy?
Seitaridis will talk about his future at the club once Greece’s campaign is over.
Someone told me about that friendly a couple days ago- now that would be an interesting one!
Ram said
Paulo Assuncao would be a good addition as he can do the destroyer job allowing the likes of Raul Garcia to venture more forward.
atleti said
Czech Republic’s Euro campaign is over…which is good for us. This means Ujfalusi can rest up for OUR 08/09 campaign!
day1star said
Atleti, he has yet to sign, and i was reading that we’ve signed Isaakson, is this true?
Willen said
I think it’s still a rumour.
“Atlético de Madrid are hoping to sign Andreas Isaksson on loan for a season from Manchester City with a view to a permanent move after seeing Christian Abbiati return to AC Milan.” – http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=18542
EdJohanson said
Nice blog. I wonder are you interested in links exchange with http://www.atleticomadriddailynews.com? Thanks in advance
day1star said
Atleti are you watching the Argentina match?
Willen said
hehe.. about the Brazil x Argentina..
as a Atletico supporter, I’d like to see Kun playing! he would have some fun in this game.
as a brazilian, I can’t say I don’t want to see Brazil win… but a victory for Argentina would be nice because we’ll have Dunga out! We need this! I can’t believe that he thinks these are our best player! It’s funny.. but a lot of people here thinks that it would be nice if Argentina win. at least, those who has a good understanding about soccer.
Second half beggining.. bye
Mohammed said
Willen, For me Brazil means entertainment in the world of football. Unfortunately, since Dunga became the head coach of Brazil, I haven’t seen any kind of entertainment. I too, hope that he gets sacked.
Anyway, back to Atleti’s news. It seems that we have signed Gregory Coupet from Lyon. I’m don’t know if he’s going to be our #1 goalkeeper or not.
Armon said
and also it looks like arsenal made the nasri signing official, so no swoop from us :(, I really was pulling for him…
Willen said
Nice to read what you wrote Mohammed :)
Back to Atleti:
ATLETICO MADRID, Found the agreement for Coupet – Rumour?
Atletico Madrid reached an agreement with Lyon for the transfer of Gregory Coupet (35) . The cost is about 3 million euros and for the goalkeeper is ready a contract for two years with the option on the third.
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=18951
35 years old keeper? I know he’s good.. would that be worthy?
Willen said
Sorry for the spamming:
more rumours:
JUVENTUS, Tiago towards Atletico Madrid
Farewell of Portuguese midfielder Tiago Cardoso Mendes (27) to Juventus could be near. He could transfer to Atletico Madrid. Rumors speak about the possible and forthcoming transfer in the Portuguese newspaper A Bola.
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=18926
and something interesting to read
ATLETICO MADRID, Protect Youth From English Eyes -> http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=18733
atleti said
Thanks for all the info, folks–
Anyone read the recent rumour that we’re after Grégory Coupet of Lyon? A bit old, I think, but he is experienced, which is a plus.
atleti said
Oops! I missed your comment on Coupet before I wrote mine!!!
If I were a Brasil supporter, I’d want Dunga sacked!
As for Coco Basile, he needs to stop playing Cruz!!!
Willen said
(Agreed about Dunga and Basile.)
About Coupet now,
Yeah.. he’s very old.. I know he’s good.. but if Atletico is wanting a goalkeeper for years to come, I think we should try someone younger.. I don’t think Isaksson is young either… For me, Ochoa from América-MEX is the keeper! nevermind.. nobody would think about him..
day1star said
We were linked with Ochoa at one point but nothing came of it.
day1star said
Seems that we’ve sold Braulio to Vallodolid for 1.5m.
Luiz Pereira said
Not happy about Braulio going to Valladolid. I thought he showed a lot of promise at Getafe.
Goalkeepers can still play at 35. Didn’t Dino Zoff win the World Cup for Italy in ’82 at age 40?
Willen said
Sure.. I know they can… I just don’t think it would be worthy to buy a keeper at this age. I think we should try to keep Leo Franco. Buying another old keeper will make us to have this same conversations one or two years ahead.
Maybe Atletico has other plans, like to get De Gea playing in the first team in the short future. No idea.
Day1star,
when I talked about Ochoa, I couldn’t imagine we was linked to him like 6 months ago. That’s a huge coincidence for me and leaves me with hope that we can bring him someday.
atleti said
So apparently Ze Castro wants to leave the club– I say let him go. He was hardly used and we might, hopefully, get a decent amount for him. Hopefully…
Mohammed said
Eller is gone. What a relief.
Mohammed said
We’ve signed Sinama Pongolle as Marca and El Mundo claim. I don’t know what to feel about this guy. He’s an average striker. I would say he’s not the best we could’ve got but the cheapest. I hope he proves me wrong.
Ram said
Ismael Falcon joins Celta Vigo and Pichu to Sporting Gijon, who has been promoted from segunda this year.
day1star said
I don’t think Sinama Pongolle is confirmed, and he would be imo a crap signing.
day1star said
Cerezo said in an interview that the players we’re signing are not the ones we’ve been linked with, is that good news or bad?
day1star said
He said that the media has not predicted the arrival of the players that he is bringing in.
Jose said
I knew I had read the name somewhere before… Andrei Archavin (see your blog comments from May 19, I think…) After the EURO I think his price might be too high for atleti, but we can all dream…
Saludos
Mohammed said
Cerezo said that there will be a surprise in the transfers; some say it will be the signing of Diego (Werder Bremen), others say it’s Baptista!!!!!! Please let it not be Baptista.
atleti said
Tomorrow our 08/09 kit will be unveiled, I think.
I wouldn’t be happy with Sinama either. Not much of an improvement to the squad. If it does happen, I hope he proves me wrong.
Armon said
Sinama’s apparently going to be loaned out immediately because we’re said to have signed Oliveira for a 1 yr loan deal. If that’s true, I’m happy, but you know how the media is…
and apparently we actually DON’T have Coupet due to an excessively low transfer fee offer
atleti said
I updated this entry and crossed off the players that we no longer have! Thank goodness Eller was one of them.
atleti said
Sometimes it’s just better to wait for the official website to announce the signings!!
Mohammed said
Maaan!! what the hell is going on! I thought Coupet’s deal was done.
I don’t know why they’ve signed Sinama if they’re going to loan him!! It’s not like we have a lot of money. Something is going on, it’s either extremely stupid or extremely brilliant.
netanel said
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neli_.g@Hotmail.co.uk
group is
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netanel said
i do enjoy this blog alot though, very informative!
atleti said
Thanks for the info!
atleti said
Well, I crossed off Mista from the striker list, thank goodness…just read the news about him on the official site!