Yannick Carrasco, Nicolas Gaitan Transfer from Atletico Madrid to Dalian Yifang

Atletico Madrid confirmed on Monday that Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan have signed for Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang.

Both players have fallen out of favour at Diego Simeone's side this season and will now look to continue their careers in south-east Asia.

Carrasco joined Atletico from AS Monaco in the summer of 2015 and scored 23 goals in 124 appearances. The Belgium international had a strong start to his career in Spain and scored the equaliser for Los Rojiblancos in the 2016 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid.

The 24-year-old came off the bench and levelled the match in the 79th minute. He became the first Belgian to score in a European Cup final, per Opta:

Carrasco celebrated the goal in style as he ran to the crowd and gave his girlfriend a kiss. Atletico went on to lose the final on penalties to their city rivals.

Carrasco continued to look hugely promising at Atletico but found competition for places fierce recently. The club brought in Vitolo and Diego Costa in January and already have plenty of other attacking options such as Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro and Angel Correa.

Squawka Football showed his total contribution at Atletico:

The Belgian also appeared to fall out with Simeone and was dropped for the trip to Las Palmas in January 2017. The manager said "Carrasco doesn't like playing right wing," per Alberto R. Barbero at Marca.

ESPN's Mark Lovell believes the move was a backward step for Carrasco:

Football correspondent Kieran Canning explained why Atletico would agree to a sale now:

Gaitan has also struggled for game time and made just one La Liga start for the club this season. The Argentinian winger has endured a tough time in Spain following his move from Benfica in the summer of 2016. He has never been able to replicate the form he showed in Portugal and made little impact this season.

While the departure of the two players will lessen the wage bill, it does leave Simeone with a small squad for the rest of the season, as highlighted by ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan:

Atletico still have plenty left to play for as they are in second place in La Liga, seven points behind leaders Barcelona. The club are also in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League where they have been drawn against Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow.