La Liga Leaks: Simeone ‘could leave Atletico’, Andre Gomes war intensifies

Good morning and welcome to your daily dose of news, rumours and transfer stories coming out of Spain.

The main story today deals with Diego Simeone and the very real possibility that he could leave Atletico Madrid.. this summer. That’s right, according to AS, Simeone has a clause in his contract which would allow him to leave the club if Argentina offer him the role as head coach.

Now he isn’t the only name on the list fans want to see take over from Tata Martino. Mauricio Pochettino, Jorge Sampaoli and Marcelo Bielsa are also on there. However this clause, which would allow Simeone to leave for free, puts him at the head of the queue. The big question would be whether he’d sacrifice all the work he’s done at Atletico to take this chance or, perhaps, he could even share the two roles?

Also in AS there’s talk of Manchester United finally making their play for Andre Gomes. Jose Mourinho is said to be a big fan of his fellow countryman and has supposedly asked Jorge Mendes about the player’s current situation. Neither United or Real Madrid would find it difficult to pay the €65m asking price so it could come down to wages.

SPORT say Barcelona don’t want to miss out on Gomes either and are willing to sell Arda Turan in order to meet Valencia’s asking price. Speculation in Turkey and Germany suggests Borussia Dortmund are keen to take Turan, who’s struggled in his short spell at Barcelona, as a replacement for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Sevilla’s director of football Monchi has been speaking about targets again and mentioned a couple of players on Liverpool’s books. He says there’s a possibility they could sign Luis Alberto, who spent last season on loan at Deportivo, as he fits the system and style they are looking for. Joe Allen was also mentioned. “He fits the profile but that doesn’t mean he’ll come.” Monchi stressed he didn’t want to talk about players that belonged to other sides.

Mateo Musacchio could be the next big name player to leave Villarreal this summer after Eric Bailly, Denis Suarez and various loanees returned to their parent clubs. AC Milan are keen to add the strong defender to their ranks and are willing to offer around €20m for his services, some way short of his €50m buyout clause. Musacchio was linked with Tottenham last summer but his third party ownership caused the deal to fall through. That’s since been tied up and, with him holding an Italian passport, he wouldn’t occupy a non-EU place in Serie A. Suso could be offered as part of any potential deal.

Others news and rumours:

- Antonio Sanabria has “agreed terms” with Real Betis but in his native Paraguay they are denying this, although the chance to play regular first team football should be enough to win the race to sign the young forward. (SPORT)

- Barcelona’s priority to provide back-up to Luis Suarez is Atletico Madrid’s Luciano Vietto, who didn’t have the best of debut seasons. He’s available for the right price but it remains to be seen whether Atletico would want to sell to a direct rival. (Mundo Deportivo)

- Maty Ryan, Zakaria Bakkali and Ruben Vezo could all leave Valencia this summer if good offers are made for them. (Plaza Deportiva)

- Sergi Samper is set to sign a new contract at Barcelona ahead of the preseason schedule. He’ll be evaluated over the summer and if there aren’t enough places in the squad for him, they’ll loan him out to another La Liga side. (Mundo Deportivo)