Atletico Madrid has confirmed on their website that they have finally come to an agreement with FC Porto over Colombian striker Radamel Falcao (25) who will be signing a 5 year deal with our club. The transfer fee is 40 million Euro, and an additional 7 mil in add-ons, which makes it the most expensive transfer in the history of the club (the previous record was Aguero who cost 22 mil).

Brilliant news considering that Falcao is one of the top strikers in the world. Is he better than Aguero or Forlan? That’s arguable, but what’s true is that he has many goals left in him and is still young. He scored 17 in 14 matches (!) in the Europa League last season and a total of 73 in 88 during his entire tenure at Porto. Why Porto would agree to sell him puzzles me, but they only paid 3 mil a few years ago so that is incredible business they just did. But now, the squad is practically complete and there is still some confusion as to what is going to happen to Forlan (who has an offer from Inter), and potential signings Diego (who is in hush-hush negotiations) and Osvaldo (who looks to prefer AS Roma). However, things are looking good and the squad has won each of its 3 matches so far. Lets see if Manzano can turn this team of potential superstars into a real contender for the Champions League spots. No club is ready to fight for the title against Real or Barca quite yet.

Except he’s not also German. Left winger Arda Turan (24) will be signing with Atletico Madrid from Galatasaray where he was captain. Originally, Diego of Wolfsburg was going to come for a discounted price, or Griezmann from Real Sociedad, but yesterday after Galatasaray activated Turan’s eligibility for transfer Atletico was the club who swooped for him for 12 million euro. Pretty amazing stuff considering that he was a transfer target the past year but was quickly written off.

This almost completely writes off the signings of the aforementioned Diego and Griezmann and makes our team even more stacked. We now have Turan, Reyes, Salvio, Juanfran, Fran Merida, and Koke as choices for the wings, too damn many.

In other news, Falcao is rumored to have agreed to personal terms to join Atletico, even though the FC Porto president literally said “the interest of Atletico makes me laugh”. He’s a phenomenal striker but a free and not too risky gamble would be to allow Borja Baston into the striker pool (who’s young and already decent), and if we will occasionally be playing a 4-3-3 system we will only have one striker at a time anyway. I hope this rumor is not true because it’ll be unnecessary spending.

Sergio Aguero’s replacement has finally arrived and the squad is practically complete. Adrián Lopez (23) arrives on a free transfer from Deportivo and is signing a four-year deal with the club. He was the top goalscorer at the U-21 Euro with five goals in the tournament.

I’m very excited to start and to work hard because there is an official match soon. I’ve been training this past week because I wanted to be in the best shape possible so that I could train with my teammates. As of today we’ll see how I’m doing but I think that I’m ready to start and hopefully will play in the next match.

He hasn’t had the best of goalscoring records at club level (scored 22 goals total since 2005) but now that he’s in the presence of better players, and is coming off of a hot streak at a tournament, he’ll be likely to succeed as long as he works hard. Our strike force is now complete and this season we’ll be counting on Forlan, Diego Costa, and Adrian, the latter two being players who have extreme potential and are still ready to contribute.

That might do it for the club’s transfers this season. They may sign a few more young players for the youth team or another midfielder (why) but the club’s main transfer list has already been finished.

Unlike the past three years where a new “project” consisted of signing a few new players and improving upon the season before, this new Atletico project is more of a ground-up operation than anything. We have a brand new manager who is starting from the beginning of the season, we are cashing in on a couple of players and making smart signings, and are finally experimenting with new formations and playing styles.

Quique Sanchez did well in the season that Atletico won the double forming a strong side that was able to compete in knockout tournament settings, but the year after was a disaster in that the squad was eliminated early from both the Copa and the Europa League, and as usual faltered in the Liga. Toward the second half of the season, there was little room for experimentation as Quique kept on throwing out the same lineups with an occasional midfielder being rotated, and that fiasco between Quique and Forlan meant that blondie was left out of the lineups completely. The only bright spots from the end of last season was Diego Costa’s rise to good form, and barely making Europe League qualification.

Now it’s time to do things right. Professional idiot Jesus Garcia Pitarch is no longer the sporting director and will no longer be responsible for unnecessary departures of important players, being replaced by Caminero. New manager Gregorio Manzano is being allowed complete freedom in creating a side the way that he wants instead of inheriting a struggling side. The Atletico cantera (youth team) has an intelligent and determined new manager in Pantic, continuing the great progress of the academy so far and will hopefully bring in new starlets.

Manzano began preseason training around two weeks ago, with the full squad minus the players away for the Copa America (Forlan, Perea, Elias, and the soon-departing Aguero). Eduardo Salvio, who was hot stuff at Benfica last season, has returned and quickly got injured. Sergio Asenjo is also back from his loan at Malaga and is ready to take the place of De Gea, competing with Joel Robles this season. New signings Silvio, Gabi and Miranda who arrived yesterday, are now with the new squad and have begun to mingle with the new teammates. The club is currently negotiating another loan for Tiago and Adrian Lopez is on his way to the club.

The objective for Manzano will be to create a new culture and a playing style that will utilize the player pool as well as possible. There is a good mix of youth (Merida, Koke, Salvio, Mario Suarez), experience (Reyes, Forlan, Juanfran) and flashy Brazilians (Elias, Miranda, Diego Costa). Perhaps not all players benefited from the 4-4-2 that they’ve been using the past few years, and instead might work better in a 4-3-3. This is why Manzano has been experimenting with formations as he’s looking to bring out the best in the players.

The first Europa League qualifier will be at the end of the month, against an unknown opponent (probably some scrub from a small country). Everything looks good so far and it is definitely okay to be a bit excited.

Gregorio Manzano (58) was presented today as the new manager of Atletico Madrid, on a one year deal. This is his second stint as manager of the club, previously taking charge in the 2003-04 season and taking the club to 7th place with a very average squad (we placed 7th this season with a supposedly “great” squad). The only title he has won was the Copa del Rey in 2003 with Mallorca.

His assistants? Juan Vizcaíno and Rubén Baraja, both Atletico youth products and excellent midfielders who are now retired.

I ask for the supporters to believe in me. I won’t let you down. I’m sure that we’ll create a competitive team, who is balanced, and will give great moments to our supporters.

Our job is to improve from where we left off, which is seventh place in the league, as the club has demanded.

The squad, overall, is practically complete. It’s around 80 or 90 percent there. Like any other club, we’re still subject to signings and departures. We’ll find reinforcements for spots that are lacking, but the core is already there, which is a great sign.

At least he is speaking positively. The Atletico fans are very critical so to address them and promise a good squad is very noble of him. He also mentioned that Kun Aguero is still technically part of the squad and hopes that he’ll be able to stay (Real Madrid looks to be his next destination).

Whether you believe in him or not, this new Atletico project has officially begun and now begins the signings of players. The following players are practically confirmed to be on their way here:

Miranda (26) – Center back, Sao Paulo
Silvio (23) – Fullback, right or left (!), SC Braga
Gabi Fernandez (27) – Defensive midfielder, Real Zaragoza
Adrian (23) – Forward, Deportivo la Coruna

Decent pool of signings so far, sure to give competition to the players who are already there. The only signing that sounds iffy is Adrian, who still isn’t proven and doesn’t have a good scoring record at all.

On the way out is still Aguero, De Gea, and now Assuncao is rumored to be heading to Real Zaragoza to reunite with Aguirre, and Diego Costa may be on his way out to Besiktas. Diego Godin wants to go to Chelsea (they made an offer during the winter that was declined) and Forlan looks like he’s going to stay, now that Quique is gone and there is no fiasco any more.

Once again, we’ll keep you updated here on Atletico Offside.

Another departure that we have been expecting for the past year. Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed in a press conference that our star goalkeeper is all set to join United, fee still undisclosed.

“We’ve been working on it for quite a while. We identified him quite a while back as one we should go for. He’s a young goalkeeper, very quick, good composure, presence, he’s an outstanding replacement to Edwin van der Sar.”

The negotiations have been going throughout the whole season, and every once in a while a random news outlet would “confirm” that the deal is done. De Gea then told the Atletico fans not to worry because he was going to stay, but United insistence may have made him change his mind.

All that I have to say is… good for him. We’ll have to make do with Asenjo, who is solid when he isn’t injured, and Joel has potential as well. The goalkeeper position isn’t one to worry about considering that Atletico has two decent replacements and will be pocketing a cool 20 mil from the sale. Manchester United is a massive club and when you are practically guaranteed a starting spot on it, it is hard to say no, especially when United has hosted some legendary keepers. De Gea is on his way to become one of their best.

Aguero and De Gea are now on their way out in the span of two days. Will a deal for Forlan be announced tomorrow? Stay tuned.

I have thought a lot about it and I’m convinced that I should stay true to myself. I think that I should not stop myself from the possibility to continue learning and growing as a player. After five great years, a chapter in my life has passed and it’s time to take a step toward a new one. I’m about to turn 23 and I have the future in front of me. I must also say that this isn’t a matter of money, but simply sporting matters.

Google translate the rest.

This is a bit of a shock considering that he signed a renewal earlier this season and the transfer speculation greatly died down since the Chelsea rumors last year. Now, he is the first player to leave this summer and is making way for the rest who are on their way out too (Diego Forlan, David De Gea). One thing is certain: we’ll be getting a boatload of money selling these players. But if you ask us supporters, we want to keep them.

Hopefully Atletico pulls a Valencia by selling the big players, buying cheaper but effective replacements, and landing a great manager. If the club messes this up, hello mid-table mediocrity.

First thing’s first, the club needs to agree to sell him and there is still a chance that they are stubborn enough to reject offers. But we can assume that he’s on his way out. We may benefit from this massive sale (Man City is likely to purchase Aguero – and you know how much they pay). But boy will we miss having one of the world’s top strikers on the club once he leaves.

Stay tuned as we follow all the Atletico transfer news throughout the summer transfer window. The club will be doing a lot of work this summer.

Yes, today is that day that every Atletico supporter looks forward to then ends with the supporter burning something in anger after Real Madrid takes the victory. It is a day in which we root for our club in hopes of sticking it to the white-clad Goliath up north from La Castellana, despite the odds being more in their favor. We cannot explain why we get so excited over a match that hasn’t been won by Atletico in over ten years, but here we are again awaiting the final derby of the season with fingers crossed.

We have (unfortunately) witnessed three derbies this season so far. The first ended 2-0 to Real at the Bernabeu, both goals scored due to godawful defending. The second was a first leg of the Copa that ended 3-1 to Real, due to awful defending. The third ended 0-1 at the Calderon in Real’s favor, due to a misfiring attack and awful defending. Do you see a pattern here?

When you have a club like Atletico who absolutely chokes whenever they play Real, against the enemy who is extremely well organized and can win any match that isn’t at the Camp Nou, it’s almost sad to see the contrast in confidence. While watching the past three derbies this season, it is clear that Atletico plays very nervously which explains all the defensive goofs. This isn’t the late 90’s anymore when Atletico was capable of conquering Spain (and Europe) and wasn’t afraid of Real. The 2000’s were a sad decade with relegation for a year and many long years of mid table mediocrity, so Real’s dominance in derby matches is no surprise. There were a few 1-1 matches here and there, but that was as close to a victory against Real in the past decade.

If I sound like too much of a debbie downer, there is good news: Atletico is in good form! The team is scoring goals, with the past two matches (3-1 over Villarreal and 2-2 against Almeria) showing a glimpse of the Atletico from the beginning of the season. Aguero is scoring, Reyes is scoring, and while Forlan isn’t really in form, we know how he performs in big matches. The midfield situation is extremely complicated right now, as Quique has been experimenting his ass off after Simao’s departure (he has put Merida, Koke, Elias, Reyes, and Juanfran all as attacking midfielders ever since). If Quique can get the midfield together, and the forwards can score, then there might be a chance to earn at least a point from the derby. Don’t get me wrong, Real will definitely score especially against this defense, but it’s the Atletico way to simply out score the opponent with defense not being a priority.

A draw would be more than enough for us (it hurts their title race, hee hee) and it will keep us somewhat in the race to 4th place, currently 12 points from Villarreal. A loss would be painful but hey, we’re used to it. A win would… oh man, I don’t even know. Do you remember what you did the last time Atletico won the Madrid derby? Me neither.

Enjoy the match everybody… may the least nervous team win.

AUPA

Hey guys, I’m back (again). No, this page is not abandoned since I have to log into it every few days to delete all the spam. No, I did not convert into a Barcelona fan and did not stop caring about our beloved Atletico. No, I didn’t die (and yes I’ve used this joke before). Yes, there is stuff going on that has discouraged me from continuing to post on this page that once used to be my baby, and now seems like more of a liability.

Now, I’m not a person that likes to apologize about things like not posting, and normally I would just resume posting as if nothing had happened. However, I don’t want to leave you readers pissed off for my laziness and I thought I should clear things first. I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me, nor do I want you to, but I felt that I owed an explanation to the Atletico fans that have stopped by and were glad that an English site existed, and to the handful of loyal readers who still stop by to check if anything has been written. However, I’ll just be blunt and explain why this page, which was on the rise late of last year and has always been fun to work on, has fallen flat since December. It’s actually easier to write a post this long than a paragraph-long blurb about the Sevilla match on Saturday.

You see, writing for The Offside went from being very fun and run by cool people like Daryl and Laurie, to being a drag considering that small blog like these are often ignored. Things were all dandy until the blogger compensation was introduced around a year ago. Basically how it worked, if your blog fell within a certain range of page views you would earn a certain amount. The way that Daryl made it seem was that it would encourage the small bloggers to work extra hard in order to reach those “brackets”, and some blogs for smaller clubs (West Brom, Wolves) made it due to nothing but hard work. I got a piece of that pie over the summer due to my work over the summer helping run Mexico World Cup Blog, so I am owed compensation from the site . Daryl, the person that was originally in charge, set me up with everything to get my payment but he left the site right before I was supposed to be paid. The new people in charge don’t even have the decency to respond to my emails (I’ve sent a few since September). So whatever amount I am owed, even if it’s a few bucks, still hasn’t been given nor does it seem like it will be given soon. Even though that’s a completely different website than this one, the lack of respect still bugs me. They pay the blogs that give them the most traffic, and in order to get paid you need to at least hit 20,000 page views (and guess how many last month hit that mark… seven! Aside from Juve, they are the glory hunter popular blogs of the website). Javier on Valencia Offside also stopped writing often also because of the fact that it sucks that the website only cares about the big blogs, which is a shame because Valencia Offside is terrific. If you look at the front page, they have a section of their “Most Popular Blogs” which actually means “The Blogs We Care About”. Anyway…

It’s not only the compensation that I’m angry about. If you’ve noticed, throughout this whole website, there is a comment system called Disqus which I feel works terrific, and makes moderating comments and deleting spam much easier, since I use it on Mexico WCB. This blog was never given Disqus, and because of that there is automated spam up the ass that, like I mentioned, requires me to log in and individually delete the spam since the old spam filters suck. So imagine logging in and seeing 80+ spam messages to delete. After deleting them, do I feel like writing something? Not really. For how long I’ve been working on this page, I shouldn’t have gotten the shaft from something that I felt was extremely important. So until they notice my emails (not likely), I’ll be deleting those advertisement comments on where to find big black women and how to increase your penis size (sorry Real Madrid fans).

Yeah, I’ve been busy with school, but the most discouraging thing… Atletico hasn’t been doing so well! They are currently 13 points from 4th place, and Valencia and Villarreal are so consistent that it doesn’t seem likely that we will catch up. This was the year to make the Champions League and build a system that would work for the next year or so. But no, if we’re lucky we’ll get to the Europa League and hopefully Aguero and Forlan will choose to stay again, but that’s a matter of crossing our fingers. When you witness Atletico lose 1-2 to Valencia, or see them shamefully concede twice against Sevilla, it’s not fun. I promise you that I’m a true fan but when you combine the suckiness that is writing for a website that doesn’t give a rats ass about you, and writing for a smaller team that isn’t doing so well, is the reason that this page hasn’t been consistent.

I apologize again if I sound like I’m whining. This isn’t that popular of a page anyway; in our peak, we’ve hit a few thousand hits. However, there are lots of you that enjoy reading things from an Atletico fan’s point of view, and some of you who have contacted me, kept on commenting despite my inactivity, or added me on Facebook, who I felt that I needed to explain the lack of activity in this page.

I’ll slowly get things rolling again, with at least posting reviews or highlight videos of matches. A co-blogger would still be terrific to help me bring consistency to the page. I really, really do want to keep on writing about my favorite club. If I can get the gift of a Disqus comment system on here, that would be more than enough. The compensation aspect still sucks (I’m probably not getting my money) but I can accept that this is not one of the top blogs on the website, even though that was my long-term goal. So if I’m lucky, I’ll be working on a new project (Atletico related) and hitting up the few English-speaking Atletico communities for people to collaborate with. Or if you have a project and have an opening, or are just interested in starting something, please hit me up. If you just want to chat about Atletico or about daily life, shoot me an email as well (bread_eggs@yahoo.com).

I have not forgotten about you guys, and Atletico fans deserve more of an English-speaking presence on the internet. Throughout the next few weeks I’ll find and present you guys Atletico communities and other websites to visit if this page isn’t enough. At least I can proceed after getting a few things off my chest.

Aupa Atleti!

It seems that the Copa del Rey tie against Real Madrid is pretty much over now that they defeated us 3-1 at the Bernabeu and Kun Aguero is injured. After a great start with Forlan scoring a goal, bad defending (are these guys extra nervous against Madrid?) cost us three goals and made us turn off the television out of shame after Ozil’s finale. Thankfully, that one away goal could be key in the return leg tomorrow. Now the fans have that “yeah, we can do this!” mentality and after a fresh 3-0 win over Mallorca on Monday, we learned that the team can function without certain players (Aguero, Simao) and that Reyes could be the key for success the rest of the season after he scored those killer goals against Hercules and Mallorca.

This is easily the biggest match of the season so far since progression in the cup and the elimination of Real is on the line. Last season, Atletico won many, many important matches at home in both the Copa and the Europa League and when they had a fire lit under their arse (basically, when they were on the verge of elimination) they prospered and progressed to the final in both competitions. So while this squad is watered down since last season, they will be ruthless and will have enough fight to put up a good match. Even if Atleti wins but still gets eliminated (we need to score at least two goals), the 10+ year hex will have been broken and how good will that be for when we face Real again later in the season?

Nothing is impossible and with a Vicente Calderon stadium that is guaranteed to have a booming atmosphere, we must all watch this incredible spectacle as Atleti has a chance at a huge upset and Real will be going full out to defend their two goal advantage. The only players out will be Aguero, Suarez (both injured) and Antonio Lopez (match ban) so with the Juanfran – Forlan – Elias/Merida – Reyes attack we should be good enough. The defense will once again be the main problem tomorrow (this is a guarantee) so who knows how the team will cope, and how badly C. Ronaldo will outrun whoever is playing right back. There’s still hope and a legit chance of winning this match, so you Atletico faithfuls stay confident and proud.

Aupa Atleti!

P.S. I really really need a co-blogger since this page isn’t getting much love due to my busy final semester of school. So if you think you have what it takes, hit me up and help out with some posts!