Diego Simeone Delighted With Arsenal And United Approaches For Atletico Madrid Wantaway Alessio Cerci
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has expressed his delight by recent reports claiming Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan are all interested in securing the services of Alessio Cerci ahead of the January transfer window -- as it means his side are doing a great job.
The Gunners were already heavily linked with the Italian international during the summer transfer window but Atletico beat them to his services on deadline day after paying £15m to Torino – while Arsene Wenger opted to sign Danny Welbeck from Manchester United instead.
However the 27-year-old has since failed to make the impact expected in La Liga, and recently revealed he was likely to move elsewhere in the upcoming transfer window due to the lack of playing time.
"We'll see what happens with Atletico from now until January, I didn't go to Madrid to not play. I was always relied upon in Italy, I don't have the patience to sit and stay on the bench," Cerci said earlier this week.
Reports in Italy then claimed Inter Milan new manager Roberto Mancini wanted to bring him back to Serie A while other reports claimed both the Gunners and Manchester United are also monitoring the situation.
When asked Simeone expressed his delight, claiming that it is a good news that such a big clubs were expressing interest in Atletico Madrid players.
"I read the papers and see that Manchester United, Arsenal and Inter all want Cerci. That must mean that Atletico are one hell of a team," he said, according to AS.
The Argentinian boss reminded that in summer 2013, Atletico already signed Martin Demichelis on a free transfer from Malaga and just weeks after, sold him to Manchester City for around £5m.
"We already sold Demichelis (to Manchester City) without him even playing for us. Now Cerci, without playing, has three teams interested in his services," he said.
Meanwhile, questioned whether he is annoyed about Cerci's comments on his frustration, he said: "Words don't bother me. They're not directed at the coach. I don't train individuals, I coach the collective."
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