Sime Vrsaljko departs Atletico Madrid after six seasons | OneFootball

Atletico Madrid and Sime Vrsaljko have parted ways after six years.

The Croatian defender joined Atletico from Sassuolo in 2016 for a fee of €14m, although one of those seasons was spent on loan at Inter in the 2018-19 season. Atleti confirmed his departure on their website after his contract expired today.

Over the course of those five seasons, Vrsaljko made a total of 100 official appearances for Atleti, but never quite won the trust of Diego Simeone. Despite various spells as a starter, Simeone has always looked for a replacement and that pattern repeated itself this season following the departure of Kieran Trippier.

It does leave Atletico without obvious options in defence however, as only utility player Daniel Wass and midfielder Marcos Llorente are obvious options in the position. That will no doubt be one of Atletico’s priorities this summer as they seek to start afresh following a difficult season.

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