The closing of the January transfer window for Atlético is turning out to be more eventful than expected. The mattress club is very close to signing Valencia center back Gabriel Paulista, 33, who was negotiating his move to Turkish Besiktas. Atlético offers Paulista this season and next.
Valencia is in the process of letting its player leave. The owner and main shareholder of the club, Peter Lim, has given orders that the central defender could not complete the 20 games that forced Valencia to renew him for another season, with a salary of five million euros gross, too much for the fragile economy of the club. Mestalla club that becomes more devalued with each passing year.
For Atlético, the arrival of a player with Paulista’s experience is a relief. Simeone has asked that a central defender be signed in this market due to the departure of the Turkish Soyuncu (who has not worked out and is on loan until the end of the season to Fenerbahce), the injury of César Azpilicueta (in the cup derby he tore his meniscus external and will be out for three to four months) and the new injury to José María Giménez who on Sunday against Valencia suffered a grade one injury to his hamstrings and will be out for about three weeks.
Simeone still has four players who can play as center backs: Savic, Mario Hermoso, Witsel and Reinildo, although it is not the ideal position for the latter two.
The mattress signing that has been ruined in the last few hours is that of the Italian Moise Kean, a player who turns 24 in February but who has a lot of experience because he has played for Juventus, Hellas Verona, Everton and PSG. The winger needed to relaunch his career after playing little in his second period at Juventus.
Moise Kean was going to play at the Metropolitano (in fact he was watching Atlético-Valencia on Sunday in the box), on loan from Juventus until the end of the season, but the loan was broken today when the medical examination revealed that the player was injured and could not return to training for four weeks. Atlético was going to pay half a million euros for the transfer.
The one who is in Madrid as a reinforcement for the red and whites is the Belgian Arthur Vermeeren, whose signing was announced on Friday the 26th. The 18-year-old Belgian midfielder has signed for this season and six more, until 2030. Atlético has paid Antwerp 22 million euros. Vermeeren was already called up for Atlético-Valencia, but Simeone did not give him his debut. His second chance is tomorrow against Rayo Vallecano.
