Samuel Lino joins Valencia on 1-year loan

Atlético Madrid have sent Samuel Lino to Valencia for the season on loan.

The Brazilian attacker joined Atlético on at the beginning of July from Portuguese side Gil Vicente in a deal worth around €6.5 million. He impressed coaches in preseason while training an advanced position, but his non-EU status and Atlético’s “overbooking” at forward made him expendable.

Lino started his career at São Bernardo in his native Brazil before moving to Flamengo on loan and then on to Gil Vicente, for whom he played 99 games. He had his best season in Europe last year with 12 goals and five assists, as the club finished fifth in the Primeira Liga.

Atlético currently have a striker problem in that they have too many. Álvaro Morata returned from a loan deal with Juventus while Matheus Cunha, Antoine Griezmann, João Félix and Ángel Correa will also vie for minutes next season.

Simeone changed his formation a number of times during the first preseason game against Numancia on Wednesday but he always played with two strikers. It looks like he will continue to experiment with wing-backs and three central defenders next season, but Lino was deemed surplus to requirements for the time being. The 22-year-old can play on the wing but has not played in LaLiga yet.

Gennaro Gattuso’s Valencia will be a good opportunity for Lino to adapt to Spanish football and earn minutes.