Atlético Want to Hit Real Madrid Hours Before Champions League, Transfer Leaked

Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid have a highly important and demanding competitive appointment pending on their schedule. The second leg of the round of 16 match that will pit them against each other at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano is spiced up with multiple controversies and comments beyond the tactical aspects.

One of those aspects is the planning that the sports management of both clubs has built for the upcoming seasons. Because both Spanish capital rivals are actively seeking a left-back in the elite European soccer market... and they might even have the same player on their respective lists of potential signings.

The name that generates some debate in this regard is Miguel Gutiérrez. The '3' of Girona, since he left La Fábrica for the Catalan team, has considerably improved in quality and decision-making. So much so that he has become one of the reference defenders in LaLiga and attracted tentative approaches from the 'biggest' clubs of the Old Continent last summer.

For now, the Madrid-born defender remains in the Montilivi locker room aware that Real Madrid might need his services in the near future. Especially after the notorious failure of the white squad in the 'Davies case': the Canadian full-back ended up signing a very high renewal with Bayern Munich a few weeks ago.

New Confrontation

Meanwhile, Atlético de Madrid wishes to immediately remedy its weakest side of the tactical scheme proposed by Diego Pablo Simeone. The match at Santiago Bernabéu showed that Javi Galán doesn't have enough strength to perform on the big European nights. In response to that irregular performance of the Extremaduran defender, the Atlético sports management has set its sights on Miguel Gutiérrez as the best option to remedy that poor disposition.

The Girona footballer has been on Atlético de Madrid's roadmap for the summer of 2025 for a few weeks. That's why the Atlético bosses would be prepared to pay his release clause, set at 35M euros, to solve this saga. Real Madrid, however, is very involved not only because of the common interest in signing Miguel Gutiérrez.

The executives led by Florentino Pérez could frustrate that operation by paying just nine million euros this very summer. Only in this way could they recover Miguel Gutiérrez's spot for Santiago Bernabéu locker room, although it doesn't seem to fit into the plans devised from the Valdebebas offices. Thus, Atlético de Madrid would have resigned to paying the player's clause, a price they had tried to lower by including one of their own players in the operation.

But Girona has made it clear that they are only interested in receiving those 35M euros. If the operation is completed, Santiago Bernabéu coffers would benefit from part of that amount. Real Madrid retains 50% of the transfer rights of the full-back, as well as the release clause and the right of first refusal that provide an advantage in any negotiation.