Diego Simeone is not your average football manager.
The Atletico Madrid boss still kicks every ball in his head from his place in the Vicente Calderón dugout and whether it’s his ability to cut counter attacks short or his tendency to thump his own backroom staff, the man is must-see television.
And that unorthodox behaviour stretches into the realm of transfer activity as Simeone was reportedly involved in an attempt to pull off one of the most optimistic deals of the whole window.
After seemingly failing in his much-publicised attempt to bring Diego Costa back to Atletico, Simeone cast his eye across Madrid at his side’s arch-rivals.
According to Spanish outlet AS, Atleti offered €70 million for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata after he returned to the Bernabeu from Juventus.
Real opted to exercise their buy-back option on Morata after he impressed during his two seasons in Serie A and many believed that he’d be straight back out the door for huge profit.
But Simeone surely couldn’t have believed that Zinedine Zidane would have acquiesced to letting such a prolific goalscorer join their derby foes.
After scoring the opener in Real’s 2-1 victory over Celta Vigo on Saturday, Morata is looking in confident form and Real reportedly told their noisy neighbours that there would be no Real players moving across the Spanish capital.
Fair play for the effort, though. Ballsy!
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