Report: Simeone and Atlético agree to new contract

Diego Simeone and Atlético Madrid have reportedly agreed to the terms of a new contract according to SER Deportivos. The Argentine reportedly will stay on until 2019 while the club are keen to keep him until 2020, which was when his 2015 contract extension ended. It is unclear as to whether Simeone has agreed to this, as SER believe that Simeone prefers a one-year rolling deal.

The news comes at an ideal time as Atlético look set to start their preseason in the proper fashion with a game against Toluca in Mexico. It is also in stark contrast to the kind of news coming out of the Atlético camp at the start of last season. Just before the end of the summer break, it was announced that Simeone and Atlético had agreed to reduce his contract by two years, meaning it would have ended at the end of the 2017/18 season. It was a strange and rare move, which many believed meant Simeone was a goner in summer 2018.

Inter Milan were seen as a possible destination for Simeone, and Paris-Saint Germain also enquired after Simeone said he needed time to think things over when Real Madrid defeated los rojiblancos on penalties in the 2016 Champions League final.

Antoine Griezmann was poised to leave the club this summer, but the transfer ban and the extensions of Koke, Jan Oblak and Saúl Ñíguez seem to have reignited another phase in Cholo’s cycle at the club. Atlético also may succeed in getting the coach’s top two targets this summer, with Vitolo signed and Diego Costa’s arrival appearing imminent.