By Fernando Kallas
MADRID (Reuters) – Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone said on Wednesday he is happy with how his big-money signing Julian Alvarez has been fitting into his squad but that he will remain patient with the Argentine forward.
The 24-year-old joined the Spanish side last month from Manchester City for a deal media reports said could be worth up to 95 million euros ($105.65 million), one of several statement signings by Atletico that included Conor Gallagher, Robin Le Normand and Alexander Sorloth.
As the team prepare to host German side RB Leipzig in their Champions League opener on Thursday, Simeone backed Alvarez, who won the Copa America with Argentina in July, to score plenty of goals over the course of the season.
“(Alvarez) is a noble, hard-working boy, who surely has a lot of important things to give us. But he is coming from a summer in which he had a brief holiday,” Simeone told a press conference.
“It was that stir of ‘I’m going to go, I’m staying, have to start playing, got to go with Argentina, have to come back…’ It was intense and luckily he is in a group of teammates who are working very well and understand the situation.
“We are always going to demand what he can give us because we know and believe in his potential. Hopefully, him scoring his first goal the other day (in a 3-0 win over Valencia) will be the first of many to come.”
Expectations will be high at Atletico this season after spending more than 200 million euros reinforcing the squad following a campaign without silverware, but Simeone is confident his team has what it takes to deliver.
“This is year 12 for me as a coach and for Atletico fans, for the club, it has been a giant step. Enormous. We have to rise to the occasion, demand more of ourselves, knowing the difficulties and not getting out of the game by game (routine),” the Argentine coach said.
“We are looking forward to return to compete in the Champions League. I can imagine a stadium with the energy required to return to this competition. Hopefully we can transmit from below all the enthusiasm and energy that I’m counting on from this group.”
($1 = 0.8992 euros)
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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