Simeone extends contract to 2020

Argentine coach re-signs with Atlético Madrid for 11M euros per year

Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone renewed his contract with the Spanish champion yesterday for another five seasons until 2020. Although he was linked with other clubs, Simeone said he would stay.

MADRID — Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone has agreed to extend his contract with the Spanish champions by three years to 2020 and pledged to help the club cement their position back among Europe’s elite. Simeone will improve his income from seven million euros per year to 11.

The deal, which runs until the end of the 2019-20 campaign, was widely expected although that did not prevent plenty of speculation a wealthy rival could try to lure Simeone away from the club he twice represented as a player.

“I have chosen to be here because I am convinced the club will continue to grow,” Simeone told a news conference.

“Because it is strong, there is enthusiasm and there are people here whose desire to participate is stronger each day,” added the 44-year-old Argentine.

A former Argentina captain said to play “with a knife between his teeth,” the combative Simeone transformed Atlético after taking over at the end of 2011, leading them to their first domestic league title in 18 years last term.

“What we give to the club as coaches is passion, as we work with great enthusiasm, and we love this club,” Siemoneo said.

Atlético won the Europa League at the end of his debut season and reached the final of the Champions League in 2013-14 where they lost 4-1 to Real Madrid after extra time.

They thrashed Chelsea 4-1 to claim the 2012 European Super Cup, won the King’s Cup a year later by beating Real in the final and defeated their neighbours over two legs to secure the Spanish Super Cup in August.

Real will again be their opponents in the quarterfinals of the latest edition of the Champions League, with the first leg at Atlético’s Calderón stadium on April 14 and the return at the Bernabeu eight days later.

“He triumphed as a player and became a club legend and we knew we weren’t making a mistake when we proposed to bring him back as coach,” Atlético president Enrique Cerezo told reporters.

“He has helped us underpin the club’s growth with his tremendous success on the pitch and he has consolidated our place among the European soccer elite,” he added.

Atlético is unlikely to defend their La Liga title this season as it is nine points behind leaders Barcelona in fourth with 10 games left.

As well as the Champions League last eight, Simeone’s priority for the remainder of the campaign will be to secure a lucrative berth in Europe’s elite club competition again for next season.

During his tenure, Atlético will move from its aging Vicente Calderón stadium.

The team was supposed to move to its new Peineta Stadium on the eastern outskirts of Madrid in the summer of 2016, but the club said in November that the change will be delayed by a year.

Source: Buenos Aires Herald