Villa Feels Atletico Madrid Will Compete

Former Atletico Madrid striker David Villa has claimed that he feels that his former team will compete for trophies once again this campaign. Atletico emerged as the surprise winners of the la Liga title last season after they managed to hold off competition from both Real Madrid and Barcelona. They became the first winners, outside the top two, of the league title since Valencia did this feat in 2004. Valencia, however, were unable to maintain the standards for long as they lost a number of their good players to top clubs in the subsequent summers.

This has been the case with Atletico as well. Diego Simeone has already seen players like Diego Costa, David Villa, and Filipe Luis leave the club. They have also been unable to convert the loan deal of Thibaut Courtois into a permanent one and the Chelsea goalkeeper has returned to his parent club. Due to a number of players, who were influential last season, leaving the club this summer, there have been doubts as to whether Atletico will be able to stay competitive. Villa, who recently moved on a free transfer to New York City FC says that Simeone is a manager who can adapt to these changes extremely well.

He expects Atletico to remain competitive even after the numerous changes.

“They are very good in all positions and will make do without the players who are gone. They will be a competitive team again and have a great season. It’s not only the city, but the project. This company has franchises around the world such as Manchester City and will make the team big. I’ve done a lot in Europe already, a very good career; an opportunity to start from zero, to start over again is something I thought was exciting,” said the Spanish international.