Revamped Atletico Madrid

"This will be the biggest task of my career" is how Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone in June described the upcoming off-season. It wasn't a secret to anyone, that Atletico Madrid had run into a dead end with the club they have build and the team has peaked. Going into the summer, Atletico knew it would lose three of it's starting defenders: Juanfran, captain Diego Godin and Filipe Luis, due to their ages and declining skills. It was time to rebuild that defense into a younger and quicker group.

Losing three starters on defense wouldn't be the biggest shakeup on the team. Their star and face of the franchise Antoine Griezmann, 28, was looking to further his career and play with a better team and add some trophies to his resume, after winning the 2018 World Cup with France. The Griezmann transfer saga had many twists and turns, and sometimes turned ugly, but eventually the French superstar made his move to Barcelona for $139 million.

As if losing four key members of the team wasn't enough, that was only the beginning of a major shakeup for Simeone's Atletico. Lucas Hernandez was sold for $91 million to Bayern Munich, Rodri was sold for $80 million to Manchester City and Gelson Martins was sold to Monaco for $34 million.

Last season, Simeone went out and bought strikers Alvaro Morata and Diego Costa, as a last ditch effort to give this group one final run before they begin to tear it down and rebuild it. Atletico Madrid finished second in the La Liga last season, ahead of Real Madrid, but still 11-points short of first place Barcelona. 

Simeone didn't waste any time revamping his team. Atletico signed defenders Mario Hermoso, Kieran Trippier, Felipe and Renan Lodi, for a combined $92 million. Lodi and Trippier give Simeone younger wing backs and add much needed speed. Hermoso is a player with very good distribution skills and is capable of playing multiple defensive positions. Felipe at age 30 joins from Porto, fills the leadership void and is also a strong player with the ball at his feet.

The team then went and signed Hector Herrera and Marcos Llorente for the midfield. Herrera with good pace and ball movement, is on the older side at age 29, but Simeone already has players at that position in Saul and Koke. Herrera adds depth and veteran presence, similar to Felipe on defense. Llorente, developed in the Real Madrid system, still has untapped star potential. Simeone believes in his style, Llorente can become the player he was once touted out to be.

And finally, the big move Atletico made, to replace Griezmann, cost Simeone $143 million, signing 19-year old Joao Felix from Benfica. Felix is touted as the next Cristiano. Brings unbelievable pace, dribbling, vision and shooting to a team that likes to play fast and aggressive. Felix has been the top prospect in the football world for several years now and now will get a chance to prove it on the biggest stage in the La Liga.

The record fee Atletico paid to sign Felix seems high for a club such as Atletico to pay, but the club is banking on the idea that in a few seasons they will be able to sell Felix for much more then what they paid, maybe even becoming the first footballer to exceed the $200 million transfer fee mark.

Back in June, it looked like a tough hill to climb for Simeone to rebuild the club into a better version of what it was, but somehow, atleast on paper, they did it. Even with losing seven key members of their team, Atletico Madrid look as good as they've ever looked heading into the new La Liga season.