Mandzukic and Griezemann are two very good purchases. Mario is a natural goalscorer who should have never been sold by Bayern and Griezemann is an up and coming attacking midfielder who looked good at the World Cup. If Mario can do what Costa did and Griezemann can assist Turan in being creative, those goals can still be supplied.
Courtois and Luis are HUGE defensive losses. The Belgian lanky kid is a pretty big hole. Kahn back in the day proved that keepers can WIN games. Courtois showed last season why people view him as one destined to be the best keeper in the world in some years. So YES, those are heavy losses....but Atletico's real MVP of last season is still there...the black-wearing drug-dealer.
Diego Simeone BETTER pick up whatever coaching award is being given out. He coached the living heck out of the team, squeezing every bit of juice out of a squad that could not match the talents of Barcelona or Madrid. With Simeone at that bench, Atletico have a good chance of retaining the title.
Barcelona have decided that Mathieu is enough for what is a crap defense whilst the Cannibal will be missing for that first third of the season. As for Real, will the forced inclusion of their superstar, James, cause the team to lose their chemistry of last season? So Atletico's rivals have their issues too, so it may just be another three-horse race which will make the La Liga far more interesting.
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HH
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