BarcelonaClément Lenglet will play this Saturday (9 p.m.) a key match in the fight for the League with the shirt of a direct rival of Barça. The player born in Beauvais (France) left on loan this summer for the third consecutive season. After going through two Premier League clubs (Tottenham and Aston Villa), “Lenglet preferred to discard the Saudi market and bet on a higher-level sports career in Europe,” a former worker in the sports area tells ARA blaugrana With the aim of continuing to compete at the highest level, he accepted the proposal of Atlético de Madrid, who signed the left-back for one campaign – without an option to buy – on the condition that he take over most of the file To carry out the operation, Barça renewed him for one more season (until 2027) and thus distribute his high salary and not penalize the club in terms of fair play.
The start of the ex-Blaugrana’s season with the Madrid team was not at all easy. “It was difficult for Lenglet to get going because Simeone started with Giménez and Le Normand as starters at the center of the defense,” explains Onda Cero journalist Hugo Condés. In fact, he didn’t make his debut until October 6 against Real Sociedad, when Cholo decided to rotate after the Champions League defeat of Benfica (4-0) that week. His debut also coincided with Le Normand’s two-month injury lay-off. Since then, only one injury has kept him away from the starting eleven. “Except for the PSG day, his performance has been good news. Atlético did not expect him at this level. It is similar to what he had in his first year at Barça,” Condés points out.
Lenglet’s pass as a player
“We needed a left central midfielder and we signed him because he had a good ball release, experience in the Champions League and he was strong and young,” says Robert Fernández, Barça’s former technical secretary, to ARA. During the first campaign as a Blaugrana, Lenglet started with Ernesto Valverde and lifted the League and the Spanish Super Cup. For his part, a former Barcelona manager, after being consulted by this newspaper, recalls that “Lenglet, at Barça, always did well”. “He is a very professional player and his behavior has always been 10. I doubt he left because of his poor performance, he had a high salary and probably had to leave for extra-sporting things. Laporta wanted to build his team,” he adds . Indeed, the Frenchman was part of the group of players with ascending contracts that Josep Maria Bartomeu’s management left as an inheritance. It was renewed until 2026 and increased and deferred its emoluments in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. His salary, of around 13 million gross, was always a burden.
“Right now he is the player who is defining Atlético’s style of play. He is the most important defender on the ball and in the area he is confident”, says Condés. This great level has left in evidence Barça’s decision to sell him, without a fear clause, to a direct rival to reach the League. This season, due to injuries, Hansi Flick has only been able to count on two central players with a first-team sheet in some sections of the season: Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí. “Atlético de Madrid gets a lot of performance out of the players who have been through Barça, it tones them up physically,” says the former Barça manager, recalling the case of Asturian striker David Villa, who had a great experience at the club mattress pad The same could be said of Luis Suárez and Antoine Griezmann. The tradition hurts Barcelona’s interests.
“Saturday, Lenglet will surely start”, points out Condés (he has started in 8 of the last 9 games). The ex-Barça player will have the difficult task of stopping the attacks of the top-scoring team in the League (50 goals in 18 games). In addition, he will be able to demonstrate to his former team that he still has the level to enter Flick’s plans for next season, because in June he will have to return to the discipline of culer. However, the most likely thing is that the sports management will take advantage of the fact that it is being revalued to sell it at a good price and add an interesting capital gain, because it is not yet 30 years old.
