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We take a dip away from Atletico Madrid to catch up with the care-taking role Marsh has been completing at Bournemouth. This week it was announced that Bournemouth are the worst side in all four divisions of FFO.
Marsh commented "What a mess this club was left in. I think there was only 15 players left from last season and bugger all money so we have had to find an extra 8 players from somewhere. Most of the old guard has gone to raise the finds to ensure the club could operate within league rules. We have actually gone above and beyond sitting on 26 players at present. We have 3 players who once upgrade will be sold for £61m and that will hopefully start the club on an upward front. The huge problem remains that the side isnt good enough to compete but its now a lot younger and we will try and focus on developing those players more than the others. We do have the issues of player minutes though as low minute players were hard to come by and the club is stacked with players shouting me me me every game. It will be a challenge for sure but their is a plan in place at least and I think by the season end the club will be looking rosier. The results this season will not really carry much weight - the focus will be on player development, selling on those who need to go and then trying to purchase some players who can improve matters".
Marsh added "The real plan is to get 6 players upgraded and sold for £114m overall. Whether we can carry out that full plan will be determined how the season is going both internally but also whether there is enough players elsewhere to sign to move these players out. £114m for a club this size will be mammoth and it would be possible to go big on stadium development and academy and coaching developments.
Maguire 32 will need 135 abs before his value soars to £40.8m
Billing 29 will need 268 passing abs before his value hits £25.0m
Sadilek 29 will need 208 passing abs before his value hits £16.0m
Cook 28 will need 248 passing abs before his value nudges to £12m
Collar 28 needs just 52 passing abs before his value doubles to £10m.
Maouusa 26 Maoussa needs just 48 passing abs before his value doubles to £10m
were named as the big 6. Maguire/Collar/Maoussa are seen as the initial three, with Billing next most important to go.
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We take a look at the current academy players on show at Atletico Madrid
M_Neuer 19 ger 21 1 1 1 25 772 1 1 1
The club had moderate hopes for this young keeper. He was by no means the best of the starting out academy players but he was not a million miles off and it was thought he would become an integral part of the senior set up at some point in the future. However, academies have improved their training methods o that the latest kids on the block exceed the older ones leaving players like Neuer sub-standard.
S_Distin 19 fra 1 17 12 10 21 1 578 227 179
This defender is going to struggle to make it into professional football, certainly nowhere near top flight status.
M_Cech 20 ser 1 17 15 9 25 1 311 539 189
Cechs passing makes him slightly more appealing than Distin but he is miles off the pace in terms of his actual defensive work.
M_Brown 19 eng 1 13 17 14 26 1 842 319 732
Brown isnt far off a 14-17-14 so a decent box to box type player. Should maybe one day find a place in EFL2.
Joaquin 19 esp 1 7 12 18 31 1 470 440 315
Joaquin is the best outfield player Atletico possess in terms of age to mains but he is still a mile off being good enough. With awful passing skills he would need to have exceptional shooting abililty to make up for it.
D_Sturridge 19 eng 1 3 14 17 26 1 171 444 270
Sturridge has the better passing of the forwards but is a mile of in doing his job of putting the ball in the back of the net.
None of the above players will ever play regular football for the senior side. However, recent academy upgrades have certainly caught the eye and it remains to be seen whether some of the richer clubs will start to invest money into their respective acadamies.
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We take a look at the controversial minutes the players at Atletico Madrid will need to give each squad member in order to retain them on the playing roster at the season end.
Martinez 0
Urbig 0
Dahmen 0
Klaus 0
Tanner 45
Kilkenny 45
Bronico 90
Meier 120
Senior 360
Adopo 360
Comesana 1020
Sessegnon 2600
Skriniar 2700
Frimpong 2700
Botman 2700
Van De Van 2700
DiMarco 2700
Muani 2700
Havertz 2800
Osimhen 2800
Cristante 3000
Odegaard 3000
Manager Simon Marsh commented "I think we are pretty well set for minutes this season. Comesana is the one people will say why is he in your roster. He will only play the minutes to get him uprated to sale. The less he plays the better but he will be involved early season. Senior and Adopo at 360 are the troublesome ones but if we play a minimum of 47 games its only 7-8 minutes per game over the season reducing if we advance in the EFL cup. In fact Adopo if he plays well could be sold well before he needs the 360 minutes. We will have to see how he develops over the course. Tanner 45
Kilkenny 45, Bronico 90 and Meier 120 should be fairly comfortable"
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Atletico Madrid named as 6th biggest club in FFO.
Despite the lack of close season transfers Atletico Madrid were surprised yet pleased to be be named as the 6th biggest club in FFO by Windebackend Workings PLC this week. The top 6 clubs were named as
PSG £1,427,483,333
Manchester City £1,155,032,333
Juventus £1,121,950,000
Manchester United £1,097,283,333
Real Madrid £1,048,600,000
Atletico Madrid £989,399,000
When Marsh took over at Atletico Madrid we do not have the information to compare but we do know that they had a the 14th highest wages in EFL1. Last close season this was up to 5th place so an upward curve has certainly been seen. Its clear now though that Atletico must try and turn the infrastructure into trophies. The DPM Cup arrived last season but as of yet they have not been close in the league, EFL Cup or Champions League. The past 2 seasons in the league have been one of frustrations finishing 08 and 7th below targets. This season Atletico are targeting no lower than 4th place. Challenging PSG will be extremely difficult and need a lot of good fortune.
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J_Urbig 21 ger 24 1 1 1 26 654 1 1 1
Was signed by Atletico Madrid and arrive as probably the major signing of the close season. With Atletico failing in Round1 of the auction they decided to take a punt on a young progressive keeper. Its unlikely Urbig will start many games but even without he will progress to a 22year old 25 rated goalkeeper with some weight in the transfer market 6 months from now. One recalls that Atletico were badly affected by goalkeeper injuries last season and the 20-rated replacement started 6 games. Urbig will be excellent cover in a season that Atletico plan to get back into the top-4 of the league table. Its plausable that Urbig could just stay and become a very good number 2 keeper for the club.
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The main auction Round 1 was completed with bad news for Atletico Madrid has they failed to win a player.
We take a look at the defenders and goalkeepers that were signed.
M_Di_Gregorio 27 ita 25 1 1 1 went to Sparta Prague for £45m. This player was looked at as a potential replacement for Martinez but with captain abs worth a whole skill point the club decided to stick with Martinez for the season.
M_Penders 19 bel 23 1 1 1 was bought by Dortmund for £64m. This seems an expensive signing given youth academies have been producing 17-22s for £12m or less.
R_Calafiori 22 ita 1 22 19 11 was signed by Manchester United for £80m. The club will be happy with this signing and its one that Atletico could possibly have used almost their entire cash funds to entice.
D_Rugani 28 ita 1 22 17 3 Liverpool picked this player who for £45m one that Atletico was a little on the old side to get involved.
P_Estupinan 26 ecu 1 21 19 14 was a bargain £31m signing for Fiorentina who appear to have had a good transfer window
A_Silva 20 por 1 20 18 4 was a £60m signing for Napoli. Again this looks an expensive signing considering the latest academy drafts coming through.
Y_Couto 22 bra 1 20 19 13 A £40m signing for PSV. Close to 21-rated he looks a useful signing.
L_Beraldo 19 bra 1 19 17 12 At £70m it again looks very expensive given recent 17-18s.
Manager Simon Marsh commented "We seem to be in a bit of a sticky situation at present. We haven't invested into the academy as initially the players didn't look like they would be future senior top flight players. Now they do but those teams that didnt invest are now well behind the curve. The big transfer hack at the moment is selling older players for their nominal book value. We dont have such players so it has felt like really puzzling close season when we have not really known what to do for the best and ended up doing very little. Some of the signings that have been made this close season are just crazy money. The market is absolutely all over the place at present. It will be interesting to see a wages budget when we will hopefully be in the top 4or5 in the EFL still. I think we can challenge for a top-4 spot and so despite feeling quite frustrated at present we will bide our time and let things settle down".
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Very quiet is how the Atletico bonanza could be described.
The club entered it with a decent cash pile but several deals could not be concluded and so there is only really one major player change.
Incoming into the side is Osimhen who should hopefully very quickly rise to 23-rated skill. Saint Maximin left the club.
V_Osimhen 27 nig 1 3 18 22 27 1 613 740 943
Marsh commented "We took a bit of a hit up front when Vinicius left us when we upgraded the midfield significantly. With ageing in mind we took the decision to go a little younger and so Osimhen will partner Muani upfront next season".
Three players were signed from the buy it now list.
C_Klaus 30 GER 19 1 1 1 30 546 1 1 1
J_Senior 24 ENG 1 16 13 5 26 1 822 836 599
P_Kalambayi 24 ENG 1 15 11 4 24 1 675 197 11
One player was promoted from the acadmey.
A_Meier 20 GER 1 6 17 12 28 1 510 235 681
S_Comesana 27 esp 1 12 18 11 25 1 540 977 8 was signed from the transfer market.
Overall the playing squad is now upto 24 players although Comesana is expected to be a short-term project only. The club have £88m in the bank, the 11th largest in the world of FFO".
Marsh commented "We are happy to head to the auction with a decent war chest again".
Work has begun to increase the stadium to 70,000 capacity which is one of the largest in FFO.
The academy stands at 6 players although none are expected to challenge for a future first team place.
Marsh concluded "I think overall we look pretty healthy. Time has been a struggle just recently so we have not shown much aggression in the market but also deals are proving difficult to understand as the market settles following a couple of seasons of cashflow differences. We would have liked to have made a couple more changes but the team we have should already be good enough to challenge for a top-4 place next season".
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