New Gabi Contract Means Atletico Madrid Should Look to Offload Tiago Instead
Atletico Madrid still have plenty to play for this season, going strongly in the UEFA Champions League and sat in second place in La Liga, but the quest to be ready for next campaign has already begun.
Marca reported that captain and key central midfielder Gabi is set to be offered a new one-year extension to his contract, currently due to expire in 2017, keeping the skipper in place for two more campaigns beyond this one.
He'll be set to turn 35 when the prospective new deal expires, very much placing him in the veteran category of a largely youthful squad, and to ensure the ongoing improvement of Atleti, Diego Simeone needs to take a big decision: Keeping Gabi must mean that fellow central midfielder Tiago is allowed to take a back seat or depart the club entirely.
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Established pairing
For a couple of seasons now, Tiago and Gabi have been an unbreakable duo in the middle of the park for Los Rojiblancos. While Gabi still has a year to go, Tiago's contract expires this summer, and Marca reported in February that they were waiting for his return to fitness before deciding on renewing.
The brains and the brawn, style and grit and the absolute understanding of what Simeone wants from his team were exuded in tactical and technical senses by the central pairing as they pushed Atletico to the title in 2014, the Champions League final and a good midseason run this year.
Gabi's form drop-off last season meant they have, from time to time, been replaced and swapped around, but it was Tiago's injury, a broken leg at the end of 2015, which has really seen Atletico forced into new solutions to their midfield arrangement.
Matias Kranevitter and Augusto Fernandez both joined the squad in January, and since then Simeone's team have slowly found a slightly different—and recently more effective—way of transitioning between defence and attack and altering their base formation.
Constant regeneration
Back over last summer, Gabi himself told reporters that Atletico are a side in constant flux, having to "reinvent" themselves due to players leaving. In some ways it has aided Atleti as they bring in huge funds and find new, exciting, younger players to challenge with, but of course consistency is also important.
Keeping Gabi is likely to be a decision which Simeone views as important for the balance and continuity in the dressing room as much as on the pitch, with his role in the team more than that of a mere player. Gabi is the one who will stand up to referees or physical opponents, accept making a mistake and bounce back mentally without his game going downhill, as well as order and communicate with his team-mates.
Even so, some change in midfield has proved necessary this season.
The wide members of the regular quartet have chopped and changed according to form and fitness. Oliver Torres started the season, Yannick Carrasco impressed afterward, Saul has dominated since November and Koke has been present all along, floating between indifferent and very good form.
In the centre, the same applies.
Keeping Gabi in place ensures continuity, but switching from Tiago to another as the permanent partner is a step forward for Atleti. At age 35 when this season ends, he's no longer going to be the one to surge forward constantly in matches, play defence-splitting balls and still track back and work hard out of possession—perhaps especially after a broken leg.
Kranevitter, Fernandez and Saul have all become genuine options to start regularly—perhaps particularly the latter as a central starter for next season.
Kaizen
Applying the business term "kaizen"—Japanese for improvement, but widely synonymous with continuous improvement—to football clubs is a concept which aims to aid both on and off the pitch.
Small, incremental but ongoing changes to structure, process and delivery result in an improved end product. In the case of Atletico Madrid, doing so in the midfield arrangement means a better-balanced team overall, still capable of the defensive solidity which is their hallmark but also offering more of a potent attacking threat.
Specifically, without Tiago but seeing someone such as Kranevitter or Saul more regularly, there is scope for tactical rearrangement, greater athleticism and the potential to reach a higher ceiling of ability while not losing out unduly with the absence of the Portuguese maestro's reading of the game, vision in the longer pass or experience.
It's now apparent that Koke will not be moved into the middle at Atletico, but Saul has been and should continue to be. His physicality and wide range of technical skills has no match for completeness in Simeone's squad, and the boss himself believes there is much room for improvement in his game, according to Marca.
Tiago has had a great spell at Atletico and has been one of the most important players in the team's fine run of success over the last few years, but the decision to keep Gabi means that for their own good, Atletico now need to let Tiago move on.
