Most fans will generally support other teams from their country when they play in Europe unless there’s a huge rivalry there, and it looks like Barcelona will have financial reasons to hope Atletico Madrid do well in the Champions League in the next couple of years.
The future of Luis Suarez has been up in the air ever since Ronald Koeman took charge, but it didn’t really feel like he would leave, especially when his best friend in Lionel Messi decided to stay.
Things have developed in the past couple of days, and he’s now set to join Atletico Madrid on a free transfer although there is still the potential for some money to change hands here:
??? Informa @ManuCarreno
?El Atlético no pagará traspaso por Suárez
?Sí pagará por objetivos: si el Atlético se mete en cuartos de la Champions pagará 2 millones cada año
?Suárez firma por 2 temporadas y cobrará 7,5 millones por cada temporada
? Más info en @ElLarguero pic.twitter.com/gILAYbdba6
— El Larguero (@ellarguero) September 22, 2020
The striker will sign a two year deal that pays him €7.5m a season, while Barcelona could also net €4m if Atleti reach the quarter finals of the Champions League in both of those seasons.
It’s a fascinating transfer because it suggests that Barca either don’t see Atleti as a title rival or they think Suarez isn’t good enough to make the difference in the title race.
There are parallels here with David Villa who made the same switch only to win La Liga with Atletico, and it would be amazing to see history repeat itself with Suarez firing Diego Simeone’s men to the title.