Simeone's 16th year: Atlético rebuild without Griezmann

Grimaldo, Hjulmand and Kang-in Lee arrive, Griezmann leaves, and Atlético don't start their 2026-27 La Liga season until 19 August at La Rosaleda. Five trophyless years weigh heavy.

Atlético Madrid begin the 2026-27 La Liga season later than almost everyone else, and with the most heavily reshaped squad they have had in years. Their opener isn't on the first weekend at all: it's on Wednesday 19 August, away at La Rosaleda against newly promoted Málaga. In between, the club has waved goodbye to its all-time leading scorer, signed a World Cup winner at left-back, and brought in fresh faces in midfield and attack. All of it under Diego Simeone, who is starting his 16th season in the dugout — and his fifth in a row without a trophy.

A delayed opener: Atlético v Málaga, Wednesday 19 August

Matchday 1 of the 2026-27 La Liga season isn't a weekend. It's a thirteen-day sprawl. The league kicked off on 15 August, but the opening round won't be complete until the 27th, because five fixtures were pushed back. The main reason is a regulation guaranteeing 21 days of holiday to players who went deep into the 2026 World Cup — the tournament Spain won on 19 July. On top of that came a very specific headache: a fungus found in the turf at Balaídos forced Celta's home game against Osasuna to be moved.

• Atlético Madrid v Málaga: 19 August
• Valencia v Betis: 25 August
• Real Madrid v Real Sociedad: 26 August
• Celta v Osasuna: 27 August
• Barcelona v Athletic Club: 27 August

Five straight seasons without a trophy

The context explains why Atlético have been so busy this summer. The 2025-26 campaign ended with a fourth-place finish in La Liga and a Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Arsenal. Plenty of clubs would take that season without hesitating. At the Metropolitano, it makes five years in a row without silverware. The gap between competing well and actually winning has become the permanent argument around Simeone, who in 2026-27 takes charge for a sixteenth season. Few managers in modern European football have lasted anywhere near that long in one job, and that longevity is simultaneously his greatest achievement and the reason the demands creep up every summer.

The club's answer has not been to change the manager. It has been to change his squad. Atlético have strengthened three very specific areas — left-back, central midfield and the attacking flank — while letting go of players who carried real weight in the dressing room. The bet is an obvious one: same project, different raw material.

Grimaldo, Hjulmand and Kang-in Lee: a rebuilt spine

The most symbolic arrival is Alejandro Grimaldo, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for around €20 million plus add-ons on a deal running to June 2030. The Valencia-born full-back returns to Spanish football a decade after leaving Barcelona's academy, and he does so as a freshly crowned world champion with Spain. He is precisely the profile Atlético were missing: a left-sided wing-back who can carry the ball forward, strike a dead ball and create danger from outside the box rather than waiting for someone else to.

In midfield comes Morten Hjulmand, the Denmark international who arrives from Sporting CP, where he wore the captain's armband, on a long contract. He is exactly the kind of holding midfielder Simeone tends to build around: positionally disciplined, aggressive without the ball, and clear-headed enough to reorganise a team when a game starts to come apart. Further forward there's Kang-in Lee, signed from Paris Saint-Germain — a creative player who offers something Atlético have chased for years, namely the ability to beat a man and find the final pass in tight spaces.

• Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen): left-back, around €20m plus add-ons, contract to June 2030.
• Morten Hjulmand (Sporting CP): central midfielder, Denmark international and former Sporting captain.
• Kang-in Lee (Paris Saint-Germain): attacking reinforcement, South Korea international.
• Confirmed departures: Antoine Griezmann (Orlando City) and Clément Lenglet (Benfica).

Griezmann's exit leaves more than a goalscoring hole

Antoine Griezmann has joined Orlando City in MLS. Atlético lose their all-time top scorer and, with him, a whole way of attacking: the player who dropped deep to receive, linked play between the lines and settled tight games when there was no plan B. Replacing the goals is one problem. Replacing what he did for the structure of the team is a different and probably harder one. That's where the club is hoping Kang-in Lee and Grimaldo, from very different starting positions, can share the load between them. Clément Lenglet has also left, joining Benfica.

Worth remembering: the transfer window stays open until 23:59 Spanish time on 1 September. The XI that walks out at La Rosaleda on 19 August isn't necessarily the finished article, and at a club that has moved this much in two months, that caveat matters.

What Atlético's start means for your predictions

If you play the quiniela or run a prediction league with friends, a matchday spread across thirteen days is both a headache and an opening. Atlético v Málaga on 19 August is genuinely hard to call: a side with several new faces and no competitive minutes in the legs, against a promoted team at home, with a packed stadium and absolutely nothing to lose on their first day back in the top flight.

• Teams with a lot of World Cup players have had less preseason work: their first games tend to be looser than usual.
• Home advantage counts double for the promoted sides — Málaga, Racing Santander and Deportivo — who start the season with the crowd firmly behind them.
• With so many new signings, the home-draw-away call is murkier than in a normal round: nobody yet knows which XI Simeone will pick.

A season that opens like this — one matchday stretched over thirteen days, half the division fielding rebuilt squads — is a lot more fun with someone to argue with about it. If you fancy it, you can set up a private prediction league with friends on quiniPrats, invite your group and pick each round without much fuss. And if you'd rather just read and argue about Simeone's team selection in the group chat, that works too.