Atletico Madrid have broken a five-year duck of paying a significant fee for a central defender with the signing of Robin Le Normand this summer. Los Rojiblancos paid Real Sociedad a little under €35m for his services, with the deal able to rise to €38m.
Their defensive issues were known about before they moved for Le Normand and subsequently Clement Lenglet though, and Matteo Moretto has explained to Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing that Atletico tried to sign the Spain international in January last season. La Real refused to sell him for less than his release clause though, as they did not want to lose him in the middle of the season.
Los Rojiblancos then renewed contacts with Le Normand and the Txuri-Urdin back in March. Despite the deal not being announced until late July, it was already tied up ahead of the Euros. Le Normand has had a solid start to life at the Metropolitano, with three clean sheets out of four games so far.