Atletico Madrid agree to contract termination with right-back

Atletico Madrid have managed to shift another salary off their books, but will compromise their depth in doing so.

Right-back was a problem position for Los Colchoneros last season but with Daniel Wass fully recovered from his injury and the arrival of Nahuel Molina from Udinese, Diego Simeone clearly feels sufficiently covered at the position.

Madrid-based journalist Ruben Uria revealed on Wednesday that Atleti had come to an agreement with Santiago Arias to terminate his contract, which had a year remaining on it. Marca also backed up that report.

Imagino que algunos ya lo sabrían, pero me acabo de enterar ahora: el colombiano Santiago Arias ya no pertenece al Atlético de Madrid. Se rescindió su contrato hace unos días y a partir de ahora, el defensa cafetero tiene condición de agente libre.

— Rubén Uría (@rubenuria) August 10, 2022

The Colombian’s four years at the club were blighted by injury and inconsistency. In total he only made 51 appearances under Simeone, also spending two seasons on loan at Bayer Leverkusen and Granada respectively.

While Arias could have been an extra squad option, it had become obvious even before this summer that Simeone did not trust Arias. With his salary off the books, it should help to ensure that all of Los Rojiblancos players are registered in time for their first match of the season against Getafe on the 15th of August.