De Paul said no to Tottenham and will continue at Simeone’s Atlético. (REUTERS / Javier Barbancho)
The Argentine national team begins to cover the last stretch before the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and the message from Lionel Scaloni’s coaching staff is clear: players must have the priority to add minutes in their clubs. For players like Paulo Dybala or Ángel Di María, this meant looking for new horizons. For others, the slogan has to do with staying in their teams.
And one who will continue to wear the colors of his club, at least for another semester, is Rodrigo De Paul. Undisputed in midfield for Lionel Scaloni, the multifaceted midfielder has not yet finished settling down at Atlético de Madrid, but understands that now is not the time to leave the club just four months before the start of the World Cup.
De Paul rejected the approach of English football. (Photo: photo RS)
For this reason, the midfielder has ruled out a juicy offer from Tottenham in England in the last few hours. According to the Daily Express newspaper, De Paul “has turned down the possibility of signing with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League” for this season and confessed to those around him that he “does not want to move” from the Madrid team.
The former Udinese Juventus player, trained in the lower division of Racing, arrived at Colchonero in 2021 for a figure close to 30 million euros. Since, 48 games and 4 goals with the midfielder’s red and white shirtwhich has not yet found its best version.
Weak end of season for De Paul al Colchonero. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)
In the last games of the season Simeone has reduced the minutes on the playing field, but the only thing De Paul has in mind is to return to the DT in order to reach Qatar in the best possible way.
According to what was released by the British newspaper, the midfielder would be to the liking of Antonio Conte, current manager of English Tottenham. The multiple technical champion has been following De Paul since the time of Udinese, and he understood that it was time to try to add him.
Conte wants to continue strengthening Tottenham. (REUTERS / Kim Hong-ji)
However, De Paul has no plans to move from Madrid, so the Italian will have to keep waiting. Months ago, when rumors of his departure began to circulate, De Paul declared: “I’m very good at Atlético. I know my teammates trust me a lot. I think this club and I will have a great history together. “
The change of scheme that hurt De Paul
A little over a year ago, Atlético de Madrid invested around 35 million euros in the signing of Rodrigo De Paul, who had just smashed him in the surprising Serie A Udinese. In Spain it was clear that the Argentine national team midfielder Si fit perfectly into the system. mattressbut… Why was he never able to finish settling down?
The concrete thing is that – almost – all players have to go through an adjustment period when they change clubs. Rodrigo De Paul’s case went a little further, as the midfielder not only left Udinese, but also left Italian football to enter a league that offers something totally different.
The midfielder was one of Atlético de Madrid’s big bets in 2021. (EFE / Atleticodemadrid.com)
The midfielder arrived in an already consolidated team and had to adapt to a scheme that, although comfortable from the start, had little to do with what he was a part of in Italy. Upon arrival, the colos Simeone opted for a 3-5-2 which gave a lot of prominence to the midfielders.
The team has not finished settling down and, tired of making changes that have not had any effect, the DT has decided to nip the problem in the bud. Thus, Atlético continued to play 3-4-2-1. The midfielders hit hardest by this lineup change, and the one who paid for the broken pots was De Paul himself.
De Paul was one of those affected by Atlético’s bad season. (EFE / Rodrigo Jiménez)
The player who came out of Racing had good performances, but they weren’t enough to keep him in Simeone’s eleven gala. De Paul lost his job because of Héctor Herrera, and his income didn’t even convince the coaching staff, so he ended the season out of the TD’s consideration.
Now, the man of the Argentine national team he has his head on adding minutes in this semester you will once again meet Atlético de Madrid in the Champions League.
De Paul and the challenge of arriving in Qatar as a starter for his team. (REUTERS / David Klein)
The mattress he will return to the field on Wednesday 27 when he will face Numancia in a friendly match. There, De Paul will try to show again the best version of him to enter the eleven of Cholo and, of course, to continue in Scaloni’s consideration.
Source: Clarin