Atletico Madrid have agreed to reduce Diego Simeone’s contract by two years, alerting several other top European clubs in the process.
Although the Argentine agreed to extend his contract in March of 2015, he is clearly considering life beyond the Spanish club and now his contract is set to expire in 2018.
Simeone questioned his place within the club following Atletico’s devastating penalty shoot-out defeat to neighbours Real Madrid in the Champions League final last season.
At the time Simeone said, as reported by Marca: “Do I have to continue with Atletico or is it the end of a cycle? I have to think about that. It’s a logical question for you to ask after the defeat like the one we have suffered today.”
Simeone was offered the Paris Saint Germain job, among others, but refused it and passed up the chance of becoming the world’s highest paid coach.
The 46-year-old has been extremely successful at Atletico, winning one La Liga title, the Copa del Rey and a Europa League title. However the prestigious Champions League has eluded him and his current club somewhat cruelly on two occasions, during the 2012-13 and 2015-16 season.
The enthusiastic manager has installed real steel into his Atletico side, so much so that every one of his players seems to embody what he stood for as a player himself: aggression, grit and a palpable competitiveness.
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