Shaqiri reportedly close to Atlético

Italian website TuttoMercatoWeb reported on Wednesday that Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri was close to joining Atlético. In what the outlet billed as an exclusive, it claimed the youngster had given the go-ahead to an 8 million euro move in the January window, turning down interest from Bayern Munich among others.

At just 20, Shaqiri was already regarded as one of the brightest talents in European football. He had fifteen caps for Switzerland, had played in the Champions League with FC Basel, and had been a regular for the Swiss champions since 2009. A stunning long-range strike against England in October of the previous year had made his name across the continent. He represented the Swiss Under-21s at that summer’s European Championship, scoring in a win over Denmark, and added a hat-trick against Bulgaria in September, although Switzerland still missed out on qualification for the senior tournament the following summer.

The rumour carried an obvious knock-on effect for the squad. A move for Shaqiri would have put José Antonio Reyes’s place in doubt. The Andalusian winger had lost form that season and was reported to have fallen out with coach Gregorio Manzano after the defeat to Athletic Bilbao the previous month. Like Reyes, Shaqiri was a left-footed wide player known for explosive pace and close control. With Eduardo Salvio, Pizzi, Arda Turan and Juanfran already in the squad, he was seen as reinforcement for the left side after summer pursuits of Pablo Piatti and Antoine Griezmann had come to nothing, and as a potential supplier for Radamel Falcao, the new focal point of the attack and later one of the club’s modern legends.

The story landed in a restless autumn at the Vicente Calderón. Manzano’s side were struggling for consistency in the league, and within weeks the coach would be gone, replaced in December by Diego Simeone, the appointment that reshaped the club’s modern history.

The transfer itself never happened. Shaqiri stayed at Basel through the winter and joined Bayern Munich at the end of the season, while Atlético’s left flank was solved from within, Arda Turan growing into the role as Simeone tightened the tactical structure around Falcao. The episode remains a snapshot of how the club was linked with half of Europe’s young wingers that autumn; more contemporary rumour coverage from the period is collected in the archive.