Asubstantial proportion of Atletico Madrid’s squad are coming to the peak of their careers, between the ages of 25 and 28, and the club have their stars tied down for years to come.
Only Diego Costa has less than a year left on his contract, which will expire in 2021.
Only Stefan Savic, Felipe, Sime Vrsaljko, Hector Herrera, Vitolo and Ivan Saponjic, among the older or unproven players in the squad, have less than two years left on their existing deals.
With this in mind, almost all of the most frequently used players by Diego Simeone have long-term contracts.
Jan Oblak in goal has a contract until 2023, the same as Jose Maria Gimenez, Thomas Partey and Alvaro Morata.
Captain Koke is tied down until 2024, left-back Renan Lodi until 2025 and Saul until 2026, alongside Joao Felix.
With this in mind, there will be little for sporting director Andrea Berti to work on this summer, beyond the renewal of some players’ contracts, like Thomas.
Unless a player leaves for a big money offer, the core of the squad lies in Koke, Saul, Thomas and Oblak just as it once did in Diego Godin, Thibaut Courtois, Gabi, Tiago and Juanfran.