Atletico Madrid aren’t in a rush to sign a replacement for injured Tiago Mendes as the club prefers to sign the right midfielder even if it takes time.
Marca notes Diego Simeone did ask his superiors to add a midfielder in January when the veteran suffered a broken leg, even with the arrival of Matthias Kranevitter from River Plate already confirmed.
There main criteria for a signing would be Champions League eligibility, experience and knowledge of La Liga.
But there’s no hurry at Vicente Calderon as the options are considered, though Cholo has settled on a favourite – Celta Vigo’s Augusto Fernandez.
Fernandez would though be a complicated option as not only would Celta be reluctant to lose their captain in the middle of the season, half of his registration is owned by Velez Sarsfield.
Celta also have the right to buy the other 50% of Fernandez’s contract if an offer of more than €5m is made to Velez, but if they don’t match it they have to let him go. The fee to free Fernandez from Balaidos is €15m.
Atletico aren’t in a situation where they feel the need to press the Fernandez issue, considering the winter market hasn’t even opened yet.
There also needs to be a resolution on three players primed to leave the Calderon – Thomas Partey, Lucas Hernandez and Guilherme Siqueira.
Thomas and Lucas are expected to go out on loan to give them the minutes they’re not receiving currently, while Siqueira has lost his place to the returned-from-Chelsea Filipe Luis and could be allowed to depart, having been close to exiting in the summer.
