Atletico Madrid announced the termination of Saul Niguez’s contract by mutual agreement. The youth player puts a definitive end to his time as a ‘Rojiblanco’ after 12 seasons, with several loan spells and being the ninth player with the most appearances in the ‘Colchoneros’ history with 427 games.
Atletico Madrid are still in the midst of rebuilding their squad for the 2025-26 season. The Spanish team, which has already announced up to five new faces, is also saying goodbye to some of the players in the squad. The latest has been Saul Niguez, with whom an agreement has been reached to terminate his contract.
The midfielder from Elche had a contract until 2026, but everything indicated that he was not in Cholo Simeone’s plans. In fact, this past season he has been on loan at Sevilla and in 2021-22, at Chelsea.
Saul, who has signed for Filipe Luis’ Flamengo, leaves the club that saw him grow as a footballer after a total of 427 games, 48 goals and six titles. He is the ninth player with the most appearances in the history of the Madrid side.
The Atletico youth product leaves as a club legend whose performance has been in decline. He reached his peak in 2015-16, where he astonished the whole football world with his power and ability to occupy all the spaces in midfield and also scored several beautifully crafted goals. It was his highest scoring season with up to 9 goals and being an indisputable piece in Cholo Simeone’s schemes, with up to 40 starts.
He is the fifth player with the most games in the ‘Diego Simeone era’, with 427, only surpassed by Antoine Griezmann (445), Angel Correa (469), Jan Oblak (495) and Koke Resurreccion (661).
He is also fifth in minutes (28,593) and starts: 318, behind Diego Godín (352), Griezmann (389), Oblak (494) and Koke (582). He is also Atletico’s sixth-highest goalscorer under the Argentine coach, with 48 goals.
He is surpassed only by Griezmann, the club’s all-time leading scorer (196), Angel Correa (88), Diego Costa (75), Radamel Falcao (70) and Alvaro Morata (58), all strikers and goalscorers.