Atletico Madrid set to put SIX up for sale after Champions League catastrophe

FT Desk

• 4 Nov 2022 13:00 GMT
• 3 min read

Atletico Madrid have crashed out of Europe leaving a €30 million hole in their pocket. Now, at least SIX players are for sale as they try to make ends meet.

Diego Simeone's side - Champions League finalists as recently as 2016 - were favourites to win Group B ahead of Porto, Bayer Leverkusen and Club Brugge, but Brugge had other ideas, taking four points off Atleti to join Porto in the last 16.

Leverkusen even snuck into the Europa League place on goal-difference, meaning Atletico can't assuage their financial hit in Europe's second-tier continental competition.

As a result, there could be a fire sale at the Estadio Metropolitano, with six players put up for sale.

READ: How much will Man Utd have to pay for Joao Felix?

"Atletico needs to sell after the European debacle," reports AS journalist Sergio Picos. "The spotlight is trained on [Yannick] Carrasco, [Rodrigo] De Paul, Hermoso, [Thomas] Lemar, the on-loan Samuel Lino and a forward.

"Players won't be given away, but if the door was always previously closed on January sales (last year [Kieran] Tripper requested it and has left a hole in the squad), this year it's more feasible than ever."

Not the first time for some

Carrasco has already previously left Atletico to ease their financial woes, joining Chinese Super League side Dalian Professional for €22.5m in 2018 before returning in 2020, initially on loan. Atleti hope a good World Cup with Belgium would tempt a Premier League club to meet his €60m release clause.

READ: Barcelona 'rejoice' in Griezmann karma

Lino is one of a number of players out on loan whom Atletico could cash in on. The Brazilian winger is impressing with Valencia and their manager Rino Gattuso has made it clear that he would like to make the deal permanent.

Atleti's most valuable players - and highest earners - are in their attack, and while Antoine Griezmann is untouchable following his €20m return from Barcelona, others like Matheus Cunha and Joao Felix could be cashed in on.

Felix has been attracting the interest of Manchester United, but with Atleti's new financial circumstances, the chances of the Red Devils being able to use Cristiano Ronaldo as a makeweight have been diminished.