Atletico Madrid had three of their players become Olympic champions earlier this summer: Pablo Barrios, Samu Omorodion and Alejandro Iturbe. All three played their part for Spain, who defeated host nation France 5-3 in the final.
🚨🇦🇷 Diego Simeone’s latest appearance… 👀 pic.twitter.com/gEL1sWE3Sb
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) August 16, 2024
They’ve all since returned to the club, but only two (Barrios and Samu) has joined up with Diego Simeone’s squad ahead of Atletico Madrid’s first match of the season against Villarreal on Monday. Iturbe has made his way back to Atleti B, where he will be managed by Fernando Torres.
Torre may not have had Iturbe under his command, as Relevo have reported that the 20-year-old recently received a lucrative contract offer from an unnamed Saudi Arabian club. Had he accepted, his salary would have been multiplied by 10, but he chose to turn it down in favour of continuing at Atleti.
Club bosses value Iturbe, and they will more so after this decision. He has a good opportunity to be the long-term successor to Jan Oblak at Atletico Madrid, and this would certainly have played its part in his decision to reject a move to the Middle East.
