Whatever happens with Marco Verratti, James Rodriguez, Kylian Mbappe and other in-demand superstars, the best piece of business in the summer transfer window has already been accomplished.
A couple of weeks ago, it was looking increasingly likely that Atletico Madrid would lose star forward Antoine Griezmann to Manchester United.
But then came confirmation that FIFA’s ban on Atletico signing any players would be upheld, and the Frenchman took the admirable course of refusing to leave his club in the lurch by forcing through an exit at a time when it would be impossible for them to sign a replacement.
In that roundabout fashion, Atletico have inadvertently managed to retain the services of one of the world’s top strikers – and, what’s more, a player who is increasingly hungry for silverware after several near misses in recent seasons.
Now comes the hard part for Atletico. The downside of the transfer ban, obviously, is that they are not able to make any additions to their squad until January, and that is a particularly serious problem alongside Griezmann in attack.
Fernando Torres, Angel Correa and Kevin Gameiro all failed to reach the standards required to mount a serious challenge for major honours last season, and bolstering the frontline was the number one priority for Diego Simeone and his backroom staff this summer.
Although they have somewhat unexpectedly kept Griezmann, they will now start the new campaign with the same lack of goalscoring options to complement their main man.
The biggest beneficiary should be Gameiro, who will receive a second bite of the cherry that he doesn’t really deserve after a poor first season following his big-money move from Sevilla.
If Gameiro can regularly reach the form he showed with his previous club, he could yet form a deadly partnership with Griezmann.
That will only be a short-term measure, however, and Atletico’s task now is persuading a top-class striker to join them in January.
The ideal choice would be Diego Costa, who has already spoken of his desire to re-join the club and could be persuaded to move to China for a few months before then heading back to Spain in mid-season.
With massive Chinese conglomerate Wanda part-owning Atletico and wielding huge influence in their homeland, that’s not an impossible scenario.
If they can pull that move off, Atletico will finish next season with Costa and Griezmann in tandem up front. And just imagine that…