Atlético to Bring Back Jurado?

Atlético reportedly made contact with José Manuel Jurado, the former Rojiblanco then at Schalke, over a possible return to the Vicente Calderón. Spanish paper AS claimed the midfielder intended to leave the German club that summer, even though his contract ran through June 2014.

The 25-year-old had joined the Bundesliga side from Atlético in August 2010 for a fee of €13 million. By the spring of 2012 he was unsettled, seeing little to no playing time under coach Huub Stevens. A move to England was mentioned as a possibility in the same report, but Jurado had recently become a father and owned a house in Madrid, and was said to be very open to calling the Spanish capital home again.

Jurado had been a divisive figure during his first spell. His best-remembered contribution came in the 2009-10 season, the campaign that ended with the Europa League title now listed among the club’s honours. That year, his last full season in red and white, he featured in every single match Atlético played across all competitions.

His departure carried a story of its own. The Real Madrid youth product’s sale was said to have opened a rift between then-coach Quique Sánchez Flores and the club’s directors, with Quique reportedly frustrated at Miguel Ángel Gil Marín and the board for not signing a replacement for one of the squad’s most relied-upon members.

There was a catch to the reunion talk. According to AS, bringing Jurado back could come at the expense of Diego, the Brazilian playmaker on loan from Wolfsburg. Diego’s high salary, and the hefty buy-out fee the German club were expected to demand for a permanent transfer, made his continuity uncertain, and the paper framed Jurado as a potential alternative rather than an addition. For many supporters a familiar face of Jurado’s experience would have been a welcome reinforcement, but not at that price.

The rumour is a snapshot of a club still settling under Diego Simeone in his first months, a period covered in the club history section. How the squad actually took shape that summer, and where its senior names rank today, can be followed through the legends pages and the rest of the archive.