Diego Simeone continues his stay with Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone has decided to extend his contract with Atletico Madrid till June 2027 after a long negotiation process that saw the Argentine take a 45-50% cut in his salary from the previous contract.
Before the start of the 2023-24 season, the Argentine head coach was rumoured to be targeted by several Saudi Pro League clubs. However, he decided to stay loyal to the club he joined in 2011 and has extended his tenure to a potential 16 years in the capital city of Spain.
According to ua-football.com, Simeone has a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave for his home country if the Argentina national team requires the services of El Cholo. Similarly, the club has also secured an escape clause regarding Champions League qualification.
Since taking over the head coach position after a successful 2-year spell under Quique Sanchez Flores, which saw Atletico win its first major title in the 21st century in the form of the UEFA Europa League followed by the UEFA Super Cup title, Simeone has won a total of 8 major titles.
El Cholo stepped in and took the Madrid-based club to new heights winning the UEFA Europa League twice, two UEFA Super Cup titles, one Copa Del Rey, one Supercup de Espana, and two La Liga titles trouncing Barcelona and Real Madrid in those golden years.
The 53-year-old has been in the Atletico Madrid dugout 642 times, winning 380 of those matches, reaching two UEFA Champions League finals in the process but losing out on both occasions to cross-city rivals Real Madrid.
Luis Aragones, who is one of the only three Atletico managers to win the La Liga title in the last 50 years, held the record for the most matches as the head coach of the club till March 2023, but Simeone overtook the capital club legend towards the tail-end of the 2022-23 season.
In the current season, Simeone has once again helped the club stay top of their Champions League group, keeping out the likes of Lazio, Feyenoord, and Celtic chasing the top spot. A recent 6-0 win against 10-men Celctic saw the supporters sing the name of their beloved manager after some questions were raised regarding the Argentine’s job safety.
On the La Liga front, Simeone’s men sit in the fourth position behind unlikely league leaders Girona and the heavyweight duo of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Atletico have lost matches to Valencia (earlier in September) and Las Palmas (last weekend) but would be looking to do well in their upcoming tests against Villareal and Barcelona, sandwiching the Mallorca and Feyenoords clashes.
