"I might leave? It's a moment to think and I'm doing that," said Diego Simeone after Atletico lost to Real Madrid in the Champions Leauge final.
"I am where I want to be, I'm loved by the people and I love them a lot, but it would not be good on my part to keep moving forward without thinking that I have lost two finals."
Simeone’s moment of reflection seems to have come at the right time, as the time has come for him to leave Atletico Madrid for his own sake. He stands to have lost the Champions League final twice now with his beloved Atletico, having won the La Liga once in five years and the Copa del Rey once, adding to a Europa League title.
To any lay person sifting through the pages of history, Simeone will come across as the man who won the Liga once and took Atletico through Europe on swansong-like journeys. However, he may not be remembered as one of the best managers of his time.
The truth, however, is that Simeone is indeed one of the best managers of our times. The context in which he has achieved all those wonderful things at Atletico is fabulous. His name is spoken in the same breath as managers such as Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho by millions of football fans across the world.
Yet history will not put his name in their bracket till he achieves close to what they have in trophies. He must win trophies. Not just any trophies at that, but the big ones.
How Simeone transformed Atletico Madrid to title contenders
In terms of his tenure at Atletico, Simeone came in at a time when his beloved club was languishing in mid-table mediocrity and playing second fiddle, and by a mile at that, to their illustrious local rivals. The extent of Atletico’s ambitions was ensuring progression in the Europa League and doing enough to remain afloat financially.
It was Cholo who changed everything. The term ‘siege mentality’ is often thrown around in football randomly for one-off games, and a manager changing the mentality at a club for a while. Simeone changed the entire identity of a club based on his purveying this very ‘siege mentality’ as a style of football. His teams were smart, organized, aggressive and, above all, they were energetic and driven.
Simeone’s Atletico side became the toast of European football as it was their mental toughness and ability to grind through an entire season that brought them success. The club seemed to have done the unthinkable by posing a viable threat to the Barcelona and Real Madrid duopoly of La Liga. Suddenly, Atletico started coming out of their rich cousin’s shadow and became a force to be reckoned with.
Also read: Simeone says future uncertain after painful final loss
Inability to hold on to players stalled Simeone’s progress
However, after five years of a revolution, Simeone needs a fresh start at a club more poised and primed to win trophies. With all due respect, Atletico will find it very difficult to win cups and Liga titles on a continuous basis if they keep selling their best players and keep having to rebuild their team every summer.
Atletico have produced some incredible players, but Simeone has had to spend summer after summer trying to replace quality with players who have had to find their path to their best form rather than bring it to the table. Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa are two players who left Atletico at crucial junctures and, had they stayed, the scenario in La Liga could have been markedly different.
The club simply cannot compete financially with some of the other names in Europe and may have to continue this trend for a few more years till they start making the most of their brand globally. They will always find players leaving to play for so called bigger clubs and bigger paychecks than Atletico, who are only hoping to build their own legacy.
Then again, it’s not just that. You tend to feel Simeone has done everything he can for Atletico and to lose out on the ultimate prize twice could have drained him. Cholo looks drained too, his energy and enthusiasm giving way after the final , as he addressed a press that has admired him for long. He had the look of a man, who did not know what else he had to do to get it right.
Can Simeone do any more for Atletico?
In terms of building a team, it is hard to believe Atletico will get any better than this in terms of quality for the best part of the next few years. Simeone has simply done all he can for this side and the club do also do no more than what they have already done for him. He has come to that stage of his relatively young managerial career where he will do well to move on to greater things.
He also needs a change. A new challenge; a better project with greater ambitions. Above all, he needs to be in a competitive league. The job at Chelsea may have been the ideal one for him.
He could even look to take the job at AS Roma when it does become available as Luciano Spalletti, despite being newly appointed as coach, already looks to be in a dubious position. He could also wait a year and take over at a Premier League club later on, one with ambition, history and finances.
The bottom line is, Simeone needs to move from Atletico and realise the next step in his career as manager. Here is a man who deserves a place in history and, alas, he will not find that happening at Atletico. It is indeed time for him to say goodbye.
