The past week has been all about contract extensions. Tomas Ujfalusi, José Antonio Reyes and Paulo Assunção were all handed new deals and it seems only a matter of time before Agüero puts pen to paper.
Assunção and Ujfalusi signed contracts until 2013, with the latter announcing at a press conference on Tuesday that he expects to finish his career with Atlético.
Reyes was handed a deal until 2014 and it seems Sergio Agüero is next. Our president Enrique Cerezo confirmed that there are advanced talks with Kun’s representatives, although no deal has yet been confirmed.
Newspaper MARCA reports that Agüero will sign a three year contract extension, which makes him an Atlético player until 2015. His annual salary will go up by €1m to a total of €6m.
The buyout clause in Kun’s contract will remain unchanged, as the €60m fee was enough to scare away any interested clubs in previous years.
Yesterday, during Assunção’s press conference following his extension, Cerezo confirmed that more players will be presented a new deal soon. According to AS, David de Gea and Álvaro Domínguez are up next, as soon as Agüero’s deal is wrapped up.
Although the club still intends to lower its wage packet, they realize it’s absolutely vital to tie up the integral parts of our team. These two canteranos have a great future ahead of them and our directors want to make sure it’s with Atleti.
De Gea is said to earn only €200.000 and can expect a major salary bump, while Atleti will be keen to increase his buyout clause, which currently is €20m and might not be enough to scare away interested parties.
Both De Gea and Domínguez currently have contracts that run until 2013.
Those that are left behind
There are at least four more players waiting for a new deal. Juanito, Luis Perea, Ignacio Camacho and Simão all have contracts expiring next summer, which leaves them free to negotiate with other clubs from the 1st of January.
Juanito’s case is clear. We have Jorge Pulido ready to take his place and this summer it seemed Juanito would make way. Apparently we were willing to let him leave for free, but Juanito wasn’t interested in joining Real Betis or Levante. It’s certain that he won’t be a rojiblanco next season.
When Atlético, unexpectedly, announced the contract extensions of Assunção, Reyes and Ujfalusi, we were surprised they hadn’t included Luis Perea in the package. The Colombian is a long serving player in the Vicente Calderón and still very useful due to his speed, tackling and versatility.
When the aforementioned trio signed their new deals, we hadn’t heard anything about it from the media; we expect the negotiations with Perea are being kept on the down-low as well. We’re sure he’ll get a new two year deal.
Ignacio Camacho’s case could turn out to be a disaster for Atleti’s directors. The youngster has stalled in his development since he debuted two years ago, but still has tremendous potential and might become one of the better defensive midfielders in la Liga. But since the arrival of Paulo Assunção he has hardly featured. During the pre-season we were hopeful of his chances, but recent squad selections by Quique point out that the young midfielder really is the fifth pick for a midfield position.
So far Camacho hasn’t complained, but he will realize that if he doesn’t extend his contract every team in la Liga will be happy to sign him on a free transfer at the end of the season. Later this weekend we will take a closer look at Camacho’s situation.
Simão’s future is surely the most hotly debated amongst Atlético fans. The Portuguese is a high profile player, but not every fan is satisfied with the winger’s contribution to the team. Quique Sánchez Flores sees Simão as an important part of his plans, but Atleti were open to selling him this past summer, hoping to raise some cash before Simão leaves on a free next summer. Flores was even promised Pedro Léon or Santi Cazorla in return.
But as far as we know no offers were made for Simão, who now might be playing his last few months as a colchonero. The Portuguese is happy in Madrid, but points to the club’s directors when he’s asked about a possible renewal. Meanwhile our directors seem to only want to hand Simão a new deal if he agrees to a significant wage cut. We think whether the player is willing to make this sacrifice or not will be the decisive factor in these negotiations, although Atleti might already be looking at a younger replacement.