Giuliano Simeone (22 years old) began this season under different pressure than the previous one, in which he had to demonstrate that his inclusion, first in the squad and then in the starting eleven, was not a case of nepotism that could affect both the team’s performance and the coexistence in the locker room. He took care of the first thing himself with his benefits; In the second he had the collaboration of Koke and Antoine Griezmann, who sponsored him. “No one sees him as the coach’s son anymore, he has earned respect. He dispelled doubts very quickly and that was good for everyone,” warn Atlético sources close to the locker room. “He has a good relationship with his teammates and that is what makes me most happy on the journey we accompany as father and son,” said Simeone after a brilliant performance against Sevilla.
Giuliano’s fit has also meant that his renewal until 2030 is about to be closed after at least three meetings with his representatives since the season began. “He is doing a lot of merit to be considered an important player in the squad. From there we will look for that situation, we will speak with the player, with his agents when we consider it appropriate,” recently announced Mateu Alemany, director of men’s professional football at Atlético
This season it was about Giuliano maintaining and even increasing the performance of the previous campaign (5 goals and 9 assists). It is always complex for a young player to defend a shocking emergence into the elite. Having completed the first third, after a less explosive and decisive start, Giuliano is on his way to improving the numbers (3 goals and 5 assists) of his first year in the first team. At the start of the campaign, when Atlético had not achieved good results, it was almost a substitute in the first rounds of the League. Simeone chose not to undermine the confidence of a young footballer under the risk of the aforementioned shadow of nepotism.
The improvement in Giuliano’s performance, as happened the previous season, has coincided with the growth of the team, just two points from the lead, when it risked going to nine before the derby. His presence in minutes (944) places him as the sixth most used player after Oblak (1,170), Llorente (1,094), Hancko (1,084), Julián Alvarez (1,033) and Barrios (976).
There is also the belief around Giuliano that he has to polish his technique in the controls and in the definition. He admits it himself and so does his father. “Above all, he has a very important physical condition and that allows him to repeat his efforts, but he has things to improve,” his father said of him. Former red-and-white international Juan Carlos Pedraza, who was also a winger with notable speed, has no doubt that Giuliano will improve: “It’s already showing, it’s a matter of time. He may not be a virtuoso, but he has more technique than people think.”
Many of Atlético de Madrid‘s chances of victory in the Camp Nou event this Tuesday depend on speed to break the advanced defensive line applied by Hansi Flick‘s Barcelona. For this reason, Diego Pablo Simeone was concerned about the discomfort that Giuliano, the fastest footballer on the squad along with Marcos Llorente, suffered two weeks ago. Care and prevention were maximum with the Argentine winger with a view to this visit to the current League champion, to Athletic on Saturday and to PSV Eindhoven next Tuesday. A tear in the damaged part, the intersection of the hamstrings with the back of the right knee, would have meant he would be out for a couple of months. With the absence of Marcos Llorente, Simeone ran the risk of facing this crucial stretch of the calendar without the two players who make up one of the most decisive and powerful right wings in Europe.
