This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
A new report coming from ESPN stated that Atletico Madrid have joined the race to sign Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic. And looking at their squad as a whole, he just might be Diego Simeone’s missing link.
What’s the word, then?
It seems that Simeone is still not done with adding more firepower to his Atletico Madrid squad.
ESPN report that the Rojiblancos have now joined AC Milan in the race to sign Manchester United’s 31-year-old defensive midfielder, Matic, once the transfer market opens.
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They also state his eligibility to play in the Champions League, having only played in the Europa League for the Red Devils, as one of the key factors in this potential deal.
When taking everything into consideration, Matic does look like someone Simeone has been missing in his current lineup.
The missing link
Atletico Madrid have gone through a massive rebuild last summer with many big and experienced names departing the Spanish capital.
The likes of Antoine Griezmann, Diego Godin, Juanfran and Lucas Hernandez all left as the Rojiblancos made an estimated profit of €311m (£280m) which they promptly invested in some young blood.
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But even though young prodigies like Joao Felix are bound to develop into superstars at some point in the future, they are certainly lacking some experience and leadership at the moment.
This is exactly where Matic comes into play.
The now 31-year-old midfielder has definitely fallen out of favour with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having only played five games across all competitions in the current 2019/20 campaign, amassing just 340 minutes under his belt.
Not to mention that his contract with the Red Devils is due to expire next summer, which would make him an attainable target for Atletico Madrid.
Seeing how he’s not really playing that much, or at all, and Manchester United themselves are not firing on all cylinders with the team currently stuck in seventh place, it’s not a stretch to assume the Serbian might be on his way come January already.
With the likes of Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira and Fred in Solskjaer’s midfield, the Red Devils wouldn’t miss Matic all that much but he could be a big scoop for Atletico, who are looking to add experience into their ranks.
The Serbian midfielder might be that missing link to finally get Simeone’s men back on track.
Only time will tell, though.