With the first defensive signing already closed, the Madrid club is going for the other center-back that will pair up with the Turk, and it would be an excellent Dutch player, currently a Champions League finalist.
The defense of Atlético de Madrid will be one of the strongest plots in the 2023-24 season, with the arrival of the Turk Caglar Soyuncu. With the end of the current season, the contractual obligation that unites him with Leicester City also ends. Later he will travel to the Spanish capital to do the medical exams and join the mattress club.
Diego Simeone is happy with the operation because his defense was one of the most suffered demarcations throughout the campaign. In fact right now there are two injured (Savic and Reinildo) and he had to transform Axel Witsel into another central defender. The news is that with the arrival of Caglar Soyuncu, another elite defender could arrive, international with the Netherlands National Team.
Stefan de Vrij could reach Atlético in the same operation as Soyuncu, for free
Like the Turkish defender, Dutchman Stefan de Vrij would arrive at Cívitas Metropolitano as a free agent. His contract with Inter Milan ends on June 30, and so far there are no renewal negotiations. Most likely, Inzaghi has asked for the Dutchman to leave, as he has several defenders to sign on the folder.
The Dutch defender completed 9 years in Serie A, 5 of which were with the Nerazzurri team. Both he and the Italian team understood that the player’s phase at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium is over. In the same way, the 31-year-old footballer wants to continue in an elite team, and Atlético has appeared with that main requirement in hand.
At Atlético there is talk of signings (Soyuncu and De Vrij) but not departures
Cholo Simeone’s order is to reinforce the defensive line effectively, with several options at hand, and that he does not have to reconvert midfielders or full-backs as central defenders. If everything goes well, the Turk and the Dutchman will dress in rojiblancos, and thus the squad of defenders will become 5. Everything indicates that the general idea of the Argentine coach is not to present exits in that plot.
The three central defenders (Stefan Savic, Mario Hermoso and José María Giménez) have a contract until 2024 with the exception of the Uruguayan (2025), and the idea is that they continue in the Atlético discipline next season. This way, the coach has many more options to compete in the three championships (league, cup, Champions) without physically overloading his squad.