Gregorio Manzano adds finishing touches to his squad as Spanish top flight resumes – La Liga Special
Diego Forlan’s exit from Vicente Calderon has been royally stamped as the striker did not travel with Atletico Madrid squad to Guimaraes for their UEFA Europa League match. With his departure, Gregorio Manzano will start his revolution at the club as he
fine-tunes his squad for upcoming La Liga trials.
At the helm of the capital club, the Bailén-born manager has been entrusted with a stiff task after departures of key players over the transfer window. He also had to sort out dressing room troubles which marred the club the whole of last season; a herculean
task in the current footballing world dominated by player power.
Manzano allowed prolific striker Sergio Aguero to leave for Manchester City, while young goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-de-Gea-c10463, left for the blue half of Manchester, joining the Red Devils to replace retiring shot-stopper, Edwin van der Sar.
As the youthful stars of the club were allowed to leave, Manzano managed to stem the exodus from the club in the process. Galatasaray came to Vicente Calderon with Jose Antonio Reyes, Tomas Ujfalusi and Diego Forlan thought to be the centre of their attention.
Out-of-favour Czech defender, Tomas Ujfalusi, was sold promptly while Forlan’s availability for a move away was given the go ahead.
However, advances for Reyes, who was sensational in the recently concluded La Liga campaign, were rejected. Manzano took the backroom staff under his wing and discussed with the player’s representatives in Sevilla to ensure him about his future with Atletico
Madrid.
Sale of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186.
Other areas of the pitch have been reinforced as well, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabi-c14252 coming in the midfield, Silvio adding the ranks in defence and Arda Turan supplementing the attack from the wings.
Gregorio Manzano’s side is almost complete. Diego Forlan remains the only problem that needs to be handled. The uncompromising manager let go of Luis Fabiano at Sevilla after the Brazilian striker failed to act straight and caused dressing room problems.
The Uruguayan attacker was pulling off similar antics but then-Atletico manager Quique Sanchez Flores succumbed to player power and resigned at the end of the campaign.
Manzano, 55, is a man of more stringent principles, and Forlan’s future has always looked hazy under the Spanish tactician. Forlan did not travel with the team ahead of their Europa League encounter and has been criticised by Manzano for his lack of commitment
to the team. The ageing striker has denied wanting out but clearly out-of-favour at his hunting ground of four years and in this situation a move to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan looks very plausible.
With Diego Forlan taken care of, Manzano will have a squad tailor made to his demands. He will be leading his side to a top four finish and anything less would be a disaster. Manzano took a below par struggling Sevilla side to the brink of Champions League
football and he should be able to better that record at Calderon with ease.
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