Atlético continue search for forwards

A new offer made for Espanyol striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo

Posted by on August 2nd, 2011 in Rumours -

One of our targets: Osvaldo (news-futbol.blogspot.com)

One of our targets: Osvaldo
(news-futbol.blogspot.com)

Atlético continue to look for players to fill the void that’s been left by Sergio Agüero’s departure, but so far with little success.

Last week the reliable Spanish news agency EFE reported that Atleti had made a €12m approach for Pablo Daniel Osvaldo.

Today we made a new offer, says AS, but Espanyol still won’t budge. The Catalans are holding out for €20m for the 25-year old, but might be willing to drop their prize a bit if Atleti persist.

Apparently we have now made a bid of €13.5m which could be increased by another two million depending on incentives.

Meanwhile AS also report Atleti have contacted FC Porto for the transfer of Falcao, who recently extended his contract until 2015.

The Colombian switched agents and is now represented by Jorge Mendes, who is confident he can move his client to a new club despite the €45m buyout that was included in his new deal.

Atleti could offer Eduardo Salvio in exchange to bring down the prize. The Argentine would have to make way regardless, because Falcao doesn’t hold a European passport.

One player that is seemingly very close to Atlético is Diego Ribas, who confirmed that he has received an offer from the rojiblancos.

The Brazilian seems eager to join, but first the club will have to work out a deal with VFL Wolfsburg. The German outfit no longer count on Diego, but are looking to recoup some of the €15m they spend on him last summer.

Now Atleti reportedly are trying to work out a loan deal.

Another target that is keen on joining Atlético is Antoine Griezmann, but Real Sociedad are hesitant to let go of their French starlet.

The agent of the player, John Williams, has upset La Real’s directors after he spoke with Atlético representatives without their permission, even after they announced the young winger was not for sale.

Wherever he ends up, Griezmann seems to be in a win-win situation because the Txuri-Urdin are set to offer him a new contract to scare away Atleti and other interested clubs.

If we don’t manage to sign any of these cracks then there’s always the chance that we’ll end up with Ángel Lafita or Chori Castro, wingers from Zaragoza and Mallorca respectively who were linked to us by Marca and Diario de Mallorca this week.


  • 20corona

    Castro and Lafita could be good signings but something in my gut is telling me no…

  • I think we should try signing Messi…and then shoot him and throw him off a cliff…(a) no but joking aside, Griezmann would be very good…maybe Lafita, but HELL NO TO OSVALDO!…but hey, lets sign Gignac from Marseille…he’s anyhow only warming the benches…:D

  • Yon

    Chori Castro would be a good squad player, not keen on Lafita though! Should have tried to loan Adam Johnson from Man City with a permanent option!

  • starvs

    Seriously, NO ONE WANTS OSVALDO!

    Yon, I like that Adam Johnson idea, he impressed me last season.

  • Davide

    I think money spent on Osvaldo is a bad business decision. You can get good players from Ligue 1 får 40% less price. Marseille top scorer Loic Remy is for sale at around 9 – 11 mil €. PSG striker Guillaume Horau is also avalilable at around 8 – 10 mil €. I would pay tops 5 mil € for Osvaldo. Look at Arsenal, they signed Gervinho for 11 mil €, the scored like 18 goals and 10 assist taking home the league and cup. We really really need a better scouting network and smarter people at the club.

  • Ringo Schut

    I believe Gervinho had only one year left on his contract…

  • Davide

    Ringo Schut//

    That is exactly what i meant my friend. We need smarter people working for the club. They need to be on top of excting players, contracts situation and better negotiating, both with the selling club and the player in question. Right now i feel like monket with typywriter does all the deals, hence we are not able convince a player to come play for us or the selling club to let him go for a good price for both parties.

  • Javi

    How come none of you guys seem to like or care about Ivan Rakitic?, he is like one of the best players in La Liga, he is possibly the best creative midfielder, behind of course, Xavi, Iniesta and Ozil, I think he is slighty better than Borja Valero, and I know this note is about forwards, so the priority would be Pepe Rossi, he is the best replacement for Kun, he can score plenty of goals, if we can’t sing someone in Europe which would be ridiculous since we got more than 60m, why don’t we sign Leandro Damiao, he could be the next Nilmar, he could be a great signing for 10m, but as I said before, Cerezo doesn’t know how to negotiate, and I would like Osvaldo if we don’t find someone else.

  • Raed

    Diego Rivas & Falcao are enough to be 4th

  • Javi

    Javi, we missed the boat on Rakitic, like we did with Piatti Affelay and Lamela.
    Our directors and Caminero are too slow, our direct competitors steal these great buys when they are cheap and we end up getting them later, if at all, for a higher price.

  • Javi92

    Javi Yes, we’ve missed the signings of too many young and good players like the ones you’ve mentioned, but maybe, there’s a slight chance of signing Rossi or Rakitic, Villareal may or may not negotiate for Giuseppe, I believe they may because not long ago Juventus made a bit for him, obviously it wasn’t materialized, and Atleti has the money to make a bit, and as for Rakitic, Sevilla are about to sign Gio Dos Santos, and I don’t think Rakitic and Gio Dos Santos could play together along with Gary Medel, and Manzano is the coach who brought Rakitic to Spain, so maybe there’s a slight chance to sign him, but as of right now, the club has made bids for Falcao, Griezmann, Diego (thought he was free agent obviously he isn’t), and Osvaldo. Rakitic of course is not on the agenda,but,he should be.

  • Yon

    I also wish we signed Arturo Vidal…….he went to Juve who aren’t even in Europe this season…..im sure we could have hi-jacked that bid!

    All these missed deals depress me! There is so much talent selling so much cheaper in the French and German league’s sometimes even the Dutch, we rarely get any though :s

    Im still hoping for Griezmaan, just please no Osvaldo!

  • leika

    Getting Falcao is almost impossible, but would be a dream coming true. I hope Griezmann signs, but i dont want to see Osvaldo nor Diego. A few days ago I read from footballpress.net that Arda Turan has 2 options for leaving Galatasaray one from France and one From la liga. Maybe atletico? If Arda joins we’ll probably get one of the best players in la liga.

  • Davide

    Also i think it should be easier now to sign players as they are no longer obligated to drive Kia 🙂

  • Yon

    LOL! Are we getting a sponsot for the front this season? I haven’t really heard much at all about it? Except we were speaking with Turkish companies while the whole Ujfa, Forlan, Reyes thing was going on?

  • javi

    Yon, supposedly we are negotiating a sponsoship deal with http://www.ashleymadison.com, an infidelity website.
    Fitting…

  • David De Lee

    Greetings all from California. Love the post(s). Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Adebayor? I know he was a player at Real Madrid last year on loan, but I think he could be purchased at a very low price as we’ve just done some good business with Man City.

    He’s a high wage earner but I think he’ll be a good complement to Forlan in that he is a genuine target man at 6’4- something the Calderon has not seen in a long time. I think he’ll have the ability to draw more than just 1 defender when Reyes and Juanfran will be sending in the crosses.

    What are your thoughts? I think he’d be a much better addition than Osvaldo and a better alternative to Falcao based on my assumption that we can get him for about 10 million Euros.

  • starvs

    Funny you say that David I was actually thinking about Adebayor this morning. He would have to be better than Osvaldo for 20m.

    I really hope Koke gets ample PT this season, if not a starter…Anyone know who Manzano feels about him?

  • David Lee

    Starvs-
    I saw Koke in action against Costa Rica at the Under 20’s
    He scored a beauty of a goal and was really good in possession and pressuring the opposition.

    I don’t know how Manzano feels about him but I think he should be the first midfielder off the bench to replace any of the midfield positions!

    With enough playing time- I think he can blossom into a star player for Atleti.

    Rumor has it a couple of Italian teams are after him Fiorentina and Palermo and offering around 5 Million Euros-

    We can’t afford to offload him- I say Raul Garcia, Assuncao, and Elias should be gone before they think about moving Koke-

    But who knows with Gil and Cerezo

  • Javi92

    Starvs I’m not sure how Manzano feels about Koke but I’m sure he is gonna get plenty of chances, I’m not sure if he’s gonna be a starter, but I believe he is gonna play in most matches, maybe Manzano will play Koke along Mario Suarez, or maybe he’ll pair Mario Suarez with Tiago as they both have more experience that Koke, I have my doubts too, but as most Atleti fans, I would love to see Koke and Mario Suarez, and as for Adebayor, I don’t think he will be willing to sign for Atleti if we made a bid for him, because he is eager to return to Madrid, and Mou wants him back at the Calderon. By the way the way, did you guys found out about Jeffren?, he is about to sign for Sporting Lisbon, I think is taking to step backs in his career, another young player we’ve missed to sign along with Diego Capel, 2 great players, also the club was granted the permit to get started in the construction of the new stadium, check it out at Marca.

  • Urban

    Jeffren does not convince me, but I guess Gio Dos Santos could be a bargain he did great in poor racing and he is in the transfer market. Sevilla intends to buy him and its gonna be another great deal for them.

  • starvs

    Yeah why we haven’t been linked with Johnny Two Saints is a mystery he is talent, could be used, and would be a good deal most likely. Who knows how this board goes about acquiring targets.

  • palc

    Don’t understand the criticism of Osvaldo. He’s excatly what we need. A big strong targetman who is also fast and good with the ball. Imagine him with Diego, Reyes and Griezmann running around him and feeding him with passes.

  • palc
  • Javi92

    Urban, maybe you’re right, Jeffren is not yet a convincent player,(he rarely played for Barca,he did,but mostly as a sub) he would have been a good cheap signing given the fact Merida still hasn’t been a convincent signing, while Jeffren experienced what is like to play in world’s best club,also, fyi Jeffren can play on
    both wings, as a centre forward too, has scored against Madrid, international winner with Spain youth teams,winner of the first ever sextuple, do I really need to say more?, think what could have been if we would’ve sign Jeffren. And the Gio’s transfer thing, is old news, but anyways, we need to act smart, and start signing players, or we’ll have an awful season, not even be able to qualify for Europe.

    palc, I believe Osvaldo could be a good signing, given the fact that he has score more goals that Adrian in whole career, I believe Osvaldo he would be a good signing if he stays fit and healthy, I don’t think Diego is the guy we need, Griezmann he could be a good signing too, but Real Sociedad ask for too much money, and yeah imaging, Reyes and Griezmann, but Koke not Diego, running around him, looks pretty good.

  • Davide

    palc//

    No disrespect my friend, but i think we should see if we even get Diego and Greizmann first before we think about how amazingly they are going to supply Osvaldo.

  • 7th

    heeey I have a greaaaaat idea,

    how about we throw the ideas of buying new strikers and we buy back our legend.

    by legend, I mean Fernando Torres, el nino.

    come on,

    he is having a hard time in england. Chelese are buying lots of forwards. now they have daneil stturige, their hunt for lukkau seems over, and he is close to joining them,

    anelka, dider drogba.

    4 forwards with torres being the 5th.

    it looks like they playing him just because of his high transfer fees.

    so the best action for us to take is we bring him with a loan deal with the option to buy.

    hope that happens.

  • Xisco

    @7th, Fernando Torres back at the Calderon is a great idea, but you remember Chelsea payed like 50 British pounds, so as you said, they play him because of the money they’ spended, and if we bring him on loan, we’ll still have to pay a fee, which I think it would be like 10m or more just to have him on loan, hopefully as you said that hapens, but it seems really difficult.

  • Javi

    I like it 7th
    What I dont like is Caminero. He has so far been a complete dissapoinment. He has not been able to unload the players we do not need and he has thus far failed to bring good replacements. Before the sale of Kun and Degea he should have had deals in place with a quality forward a playmaker and a left wing. Now that everyone knows how much money we got they are holding back until we pay top dollars. In addition he let a promising star like Lamela go were he cost only 10€m. He is following the footsteps of Pitarch, maybe even worse. Pathetic.

  • starvs

    Yeah Caminero has made no deft moves at all while young talent is being snapped up all over the place we are bidding on ridiculously priced mediocrity. 45m for Falcoa without a passport? I was interested in him at 30 maybe but there has to be better value at this point?

  • javi

    Hey what about Llorente from Bilbao?
    He is 36M and spanish. Falcao is more than than and non EU.

  • starvs

    Llorente would be awesome, he is just so big. I wasn’t even considering people like him because figured he would be too expensive but now all of a sudden we are going after someone that cost 45m so I guess that puts everyone in play basically…

  • Ian

    Llorente would be good, but I’d prefer to gamble on Muniain..
    And I just figured out that Toulalan went to Malaga for FREE!!
    We could’ve used him!! It’s really disappointing to see the club miss bargains like that…

  • starvs

    Ian that is this boards M.O.; missing bargains and crushing dreams.

  • Ringo

    Wow, how could I (luckily I’m not alone) forget about Llorente?!
    He’d be a terrific addition if they really want a new striker!

  • Javi

    And he likes red and white stripes..,

  • leika

    reportedly falcao has said his ”yes” to atletico, now the only problem is to convince porto to sell him

  • Javi

    If they agree to sell we have to get rid of Salvio Elias or Miranda

  • leika

    it’s been told that a part of the deal would be salvio

  • oguz

    Here is a atacking midfieler and forvet for Atletico Madrid;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6y3mJT0h0

  • leika

    atleti was intrested in arda a while ago, dont know what happend to that tho, arda has said that he has 2 choices to leave galtasaray: one in france and the other one in al liga

  • starvs

    I’d be very excited to Arda came to Atletico, but again, passport issue arise with him no?

  • oguz

    Arda singned Atletico… says Turkish news

  • oguz

    12.000.000 € transfer fee —-2.500.000 € will be paid to arda yearly—5 year deal