One of many defining tales of Atlético Madrid’s 2025/26 season needs to be the burden carried by its attackers, a gaggle requested to compensate for a midfield ravaged by harm, to navigate a winter switch window that introduced as a lot upheaval as reinforcement and to ship in a Champions League semi-final whereas nonetheless processing a Copa del Rey ultimate defeat.
They did so with blended outcomes. dazzled in Europe and went quiet within the league for 3 months. Alexander Sørloth scored freely and began nothing that mattered. Antoine Griezmann mentioned goodbye the one method he is aware of how, with targets, drama and a lump within the throat. And arrived in February and instantly appeared like the most effective signing of the season.
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Within the third instalment of Into the Calderón’s seasonal participant rankings, we flip our consideration to the forwards. It’s a lengthy checklist, and a sophisticated one, together with three gamers who have been solely a part of the squad for a part of the season, a membership legend on his method out and a blended bag of kind from huge names.
Julián Alvarez
Alvarez and Sørloth completed as Atlético’s joint-top scorers throughout all competitions with 20 targets every, which sounds spectacular till you look at how Alvarez received there. The numbers inform one story; the context tells one other.
In La Liga, Alvarez managed simply eight targets in 29 appearances, a big drop from the 17 he scored in 37 league video games final season. The low headline determine within the league is partly defined by a staggering mid-season collapse: a 14-game La Liga drought with out scoring, stretching from November by to late February.
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What saved his total tally respectable was the Champions League, the place he scored 10 targets in 15 appearances, a return that confirmed his place among the many finest in Europe within the huge video games, when he was targeted on the duty at hand. When Atlético wanted him most on the most important stage, he delivered.
However the elephant within the room, in fact, is his future. Barcelona’s equipment has been relentlessly pulling at him all through the second half of the season, and the contract renewal that Atlético hoped to formalise has stalled. Dropping him would harm badly, however after a La Liga marketing campaign that typically raised extra questions than it answered, he has — maybe inadvertently — put a value on himself.
The place 12 months in the past he wasn’t up on the market, in case you requested many followers, those self same supporters might now reluctantly put a value on a participant who scored eight home targets at a membership ending fourth.
Ranking: 7/10
When it comes to uncooked output, Sørloth had a wonderful season. He completed as Atlético’s high scorer in LaLiga with 13 targets in 35 appearances, working at practically a purpose each different sport when given the prospect. His non-penalty xG numbers have been elite, inserting him within the high two percentile of all La Liga strikers, and a hat-trick within the Champions League to seal development to the final 16 was among the many highlights of the complete European marketing campaign.
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And but the dialog round Sørloth this season was at all times the identical: why wasn’t he beginning the massive video games? Diego Simeone persistently dropped him when the match actually mattered, utilizing him because the battering ram off the bench whereas Alvarez and Griezmann occupied the extra prestigious slots within the XI — as proven by the truth that he solely began one Champions League knockout tie, in opposition to Membership Brugges within the second leg.
That sort of deployment displays how Simeone sees him: a finisher of top of the range who lacks the all-round profile to guide the road in a match the place Atlético can not afford to concede area on the counter. Whereas his stats are robust, they’re boosted by being the person to characteristic in opposition to Atleti’s weaker opposition.
At 30, Sørloth’s worth is as a specialist. He delivered when requested. However this was not the marketing campaign of a first-choice striker.
Ranking: 6.5/10
His final season on the membership the place he turned a legend was one the place many anticipated him to play a bit-part function, however Griezmann maybe exceeded expectations as he completed with 9 targets and 4 assists throughout 42 appearances in all competitions, taking over a diminished however significant function.
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The numbers this season don’t replicate his true worth, which was by no means purely statistical at this stage of his profession. Griezmann was the participant who saved issues calm after they may need unravelled, who stretched defences when Atlético most wanted width, who pressed when work fee was wanted, who introduced levity to a dressing room navigating fixed harm chaos.
His transfer to in MLS has been confirmed, and discuss of a possible mid-season exit proper because the staff competed to succeed in the latter phases of the Copa del Rey and Champions League left a mark that reminded a lot of his talks with Barcelona on the eve of Champions League elimination to in 2019.
Greater than anybody else on this squad, he shall be troublesome to switch: not due to targets or assists, however due to what he represents and his management function.
Ranking: 7.5/10
In some methods, Lookman is essentially the most troublesome participant on this checklist to fee pretty, as a result of a half-season window merely isn’t sufficient canvas.
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9 targets and 4 assists in 22 appearances since his February arrival from represents a rare return for a mid-season signing. A purpose involvement each 104 minutes is healthier than managed in his January 2018 return.
He scored on his debut in a 5-0 demolition of within the Copa del Rey, and proceeded to change into essentially the most electrical attacking presence Atlético have had in years, scoring an equaliser within the eventual Copa del Rey ultimate earlier than an harm picked up there dominated him out till the Champions League semi-final residence leg in opposition to . He wasn’t sharp in both leg, and he was unable to forestall Atleti’s elimination.
Lookman’s debut half-season was one in all promise and potential, and discovering consistency might be what takes him to the following stage. With a full season underneath Simeone, the ceiling could be very excessive. Primarily based on what we noticed in three months, this ranking may look conservative come Could 2027.
Ranking: 8/10
This season, Giuliano did greater than sufficient to place a long way between himself and the narrative of being the coach’s son, however he didn’t fairly kick on as a lot as some would have appreciated. An lively begin to the season, cementing his place as the primary alternative right-winger, pale as his unbelievable quantity of minutes appeared to take their toll in a while.
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He made 31 LaLiga appearances, scoring 4 targets and registering six assists, and was one in all solely a handful of Atlético gamers to stay persistently accessible — and helpful — all through the marketing campaign. Simeone senior deployed him as his most-used outfield participant alongside , and Dávid Hancko, a undeniable fact that stunned many observers who anticipated a lesser function.
In fact, it shouldn’t have stunned anybody who watched him intently. Giuliano’s power, urgent and willingness to cowl the complete proper flank made him a useful piece of the form, each as a winger and as one thing nearer to a hybrid wing-back when El Cholo’s construction demanded it.
He isn’t a 15-goal-a-season participant, and doubtless won’t ever be. However the way in which Giuliano reads the sport, hyperlinks play and sacrifices himself defensively makes him precisely the kind of footballer that survives and thrives on this system. His finest years are forward of him.
Ranking: 7/10
Having arrived as one of the crucial thrilling summer time signings in recent times, Baena’s debut season turned out to be a big disappointment.
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Baena joined from in a long-gestating €42 million switch, off the again of a season the place he created extra possibilities than every other participant in La Liga. The expectation was that he would do for Atlético what he had achieved for Villarreal: present creativity from vast positions, pile up key passes by sheer quantity and unlock cussed defenses which have stymied Atleti away in La Liga for years.
Baena began brightly in opposition to earlier than an harm and appendicitis then sidelined him and interrupted his adaptation. Since, he’s tried to suit right into a system that hasn’t fairly suited him. He completed with simply two targets and three assists in 27 LaLiga appearances, a fraction of the numbers he put up on the yellow facet of Spain. Accidents disrupted his rhythm within the first half of the marketing campaign, and by the point he was match, the staff’s dynamic had shifted round different gamers, though he discovered some higher kind within the ultimate weeks of the marketing campaign.
The expertise is clearly there. led Villarreal’s assault virtually singlehandedly for 2 seasons, and that potential doesn’t disappear. An excellent World Cup may propel him to new heights, and one other summer time may assist him to regulate to the calls for of being a winger in Simeone’s system.
Ranking: 5/10
Atlético signed Raspadori as an insurance coverage coverage, seemingly so as to add depth with a chance in an affordable piece of enterprise given Griezmann’s age and Alvarez’s early-season kind.
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However insurance coverage is, by definition, one thing you hope to not want. And when Simeone reached for Raspadori in his hour of want, he discovered a participant who appeared like a spherical peg in a sq. gap.
The striker performed 15 video games, scored two targets and supplied three assists earlier than leaving in January, making only one La Liga begin in his complete time on the membership. Simeone had lengthy needed a robust dribbling winger on the left, and a intelligent, diminutive playmaker appeared a poor match. That mentioned, the numbers weren’t so dangerous given his restricted minutes
That mentioned, the membership purchased somebody who didn’t match and the supervisor not often performed him. Whereas Raspadori labored exhausting and by no means complained publicly, his January exit again to Serie A to affix Atalanta was in all probability finest for all events.
Ranking: 5/10
If Baena and Raspadori have been disappointing summer time signings, Almada’s was actually catastrophic.
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The Argentine began the primary three video games of the season however didn’t begin one other league match till a three-game run in late January and February. In between, he missed time by harm and gathered a collection of nameless substitute appearances that left even his most optimistic observers struggling to see the place he suits. He flirted with a January exit that by no means materialised, and he didn’t again up any declare for extra sport time. Conceding a penalty foolishly dropping possession in his personal field in opposition to was a second that no participant needs on his highlights reel.
Almada ended with three targets and one help in 27 La Liga appearances, averaging just below 49 minutes per sport. His dribbling numbers recommend a participant with real technical high quality however his influence, or lack of it, on matches suggests a participant who has not but understood what La Liga calls for of him bodily and positionally. In equity, Simeone has been affected person, however endurance has limits.
Ranking: 4/10
The briefest of cameos in opposition to in September for a product of the academy system who skilled with the primary staff and was within the squad for the primary 17 league video games with out taking part in a minute. Carlos Martín by no means was near establishing himself in Simeone’s plans; 65 of the 66 minutes he performed have been in opposition to Atlético Baleares in a topsy-turvy Copa del Rey match in December. He left for on mortgage in January and is predicted to affix the Convention League runners-up completely.
Ranking: 3/10