Atlético stopped for the World Cup immersed in a bad sporting situation and with troubles in the locker room, and despite the good World Cup made by its players (two champions in the starting eleven: Molina and Rodrigo de Paul and another on the bench, Correa, and a runner-up, Griezmann) with the return to normality the entanglements have intensified. Matheus Cunha said goodbye to the team yesterday with messages on social networks against the coach. João Félix is more than ever at the starting gate and Atlético surpassed the second round of the Cup on Thursday against the modest CD Arenteiro, but giving a very bad image and thanks above all to the performance of youth squad player Pablo Barrios.
The farewell to Matheus Cunha, who is going to Wolverhampton coached by Julen Lopetegui (loaned for the remainder of the season and with a purchase option for 50 million), is quite a missile towards the Argentine coach, whom he does not name. In his social media account, the Brazilian wrote: "There are those who are in charge because at some point it was important, he has his hierarchies and makes the decisions, and then you also have to make yours."
The 23-year-old player has much kinder words for the rest of the entity: “Atléticos, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have fantastic players as athletes and as people, a club with fans who make you feel at home even on the other side of the world. My heart will always have a piece of Atlético”.
With Cunha, Atlético has not done a bad deal. He was signed to Hertha Berlin for 25 million with the idea of replacing Luis Suárez, but he never had Simeone's complicity. Now the colchoneros can get double for a striker who played 54 games in a season and a half (few as a starter) and who left a balance of seven goals, far from the benefits of the Uruguayan gunman.
If Cunha is already Atlético history, much more tricky is the case of João Félix, the club's most expensive player (127 million), who has won the hearts of the rojiblanca fans and who has just performed acceptably with Portugal in the World Cup, always a starter in Fernando Santos' team.
However, João Félix has never been liked by Simeone, who has ignored him as much as possible despite having good words for him in public appearances.
João Félix was not called up for the match against Arenteiro due to suffering from tonsillopharyngitis that had left him without training for two days. The normal thing is that he will be at the Metropolitan on Thursday, December 29 to receive Elche in the resumption of the League, but even Miguel Ángel Gil Marín himself, the club's CEO and largest shareholder, acknowledged a few days ago that the club has already contemplates the departure of the young Portuguese star in this winter market: "Personally, I would love for him to continue, but I think that the player's idea right now is not that," Gil Marín assured on December 7. Club sources set the price at 140 million.
Before the World Cup, João Félix was a substitute in ten of the last twelve games. No other data better exemplifies the bad relationship between the player and Simeone. All this, in addition, in the worst sports season since Simeone has been in charge of the team, which he took over on December 23, 2011. Never until today have the numbers been so bad. Out of the Champions squares. Fifth in the League, thirteen points behind the leader, Barcelona, and eleven behind second, Real Madrid. And also eliminated from European competitions for having finished fourth in the group stage and not even having the consolation of playing in the Europa League.
Simeone has a contract until June 2024, but right now his continuity beyond the current one this season is not guaranteed. Times are scrambled at Atlético.
