Saturday – an ingenious pass to Angel di Maria for a goal worth winning Copa America over Brazil.Monday – signing for Atletico Madrid. Transfer window’s big bang: Rodrigo de Paul is the new footballer of the Spanish champions.The Argentine, who was crowned with the Copa America trophy, arrived from Udinese for compensation of 41.5 million USD (4.48 billion KSH) and signed a five-year-contract, which means that he should stay at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium until June 2026.😊🔴⚪️ #WelcomeDePaul!🆕🏧 @rodridepaul is already red and white!📝 https://t.co/3FhPJU0jtr pic.twitter.com/3MhyDe1aMP— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) July 12, 2021 The difference between what Udinese initially asked (47.5 million USD) and what Rojiblancos offered (23.7 million USD) began to shrink when the 27-year-old central midfielder himself announced that he would like to look for pastures new after five years at the Dacia Arena in Udine. De Paul’s compatriot and now his new manager Diego Simeone was persistent – he convinced the player first, then Atletico made an even stronger offer, strong enough to soften the Italians who got approximately what they initially wanted, while the Argentine expert got a player capable of making a difference in the middle of the pitch.Last season he scored nine goals in Serie A and recorded ten assists. He was called up to be a part of what turned out to be Argentina’s Copa America winning squad so it is no wonder that other big clubs, such as Juventus, also wanted him.De Paul’s agent, Augustin Jimenez, is a very close friend of Atletico’s sports director Andrea Berta, so it is no surprise the negotiations went pretty smoothly.Messi dedicates Copa America title to family, country and MaradonaIt remains to be seen how will Cholo Simeone use de Paul – Koke as captain has his please cemented, Marcos Llorente can cover more positions, Geoffrey Condogbia and Hector Herrera do not look like first-eleven choices – so the guy who started his career in Racing in Argentina and in 2014 signed for Valencia, could expect quite an amount of minutes in with the red-and-whites of Madrid.Rodrigo de Paul is Atletico’s second official signing for the next season. Young Brazilian Marcos Paulo has already signed a five-year-contract, however, current winger of Fluminense will probably be sent on loan to gather more playing experience.
