Atletico Madrid’s ‘Civil War’ Rumbles On As Simeone Fights for His Job

• Atletico Madrid board are willing to sack Diego Simeone and keep Joao Felix at the club
• Atletico are struggling under Simeone this season as they are presently fifth in La Liga and finished bottom of their Champions League group
• Chelsea have reportedly reached a verbal agreement to sign Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid

Diego Simeone’s position as Atletico Madrid manager is not safe as the club's board want the fans to push their long-serving coach out in favour of keeping Joao Felix.

Atletico’s club-record signing Felix has had a falling out with Simeone and he's looking to quit the Madrid-based club.

The Portugal international has become one of the hottest commodities in the transfer market, having joined the Rojiblancos in a huge £113million deal in 2019.

But the 23-year-old has been far from consistent since he signed for the La Liga side and has been linked with a move to the Premier League in January.

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However, according to Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, the board of Atletico Madrid are sensationally attempting to get the fans on Felix’s side and ‘push’ Simeone out.

"Quite clearly, there’s a bit of division, a civil war, even [among] the fans," Ballague told ITV. I think the club would like to put the fans in the position of pushing Simeone out and keeping Joao Felix in. but Simeone has got a big contract, they’ve got to pay him €25m (£22m) to leave. That’s not going to happen.

Felix’s initial transfer fee of €140million has been a turn-off for many clubs but Atletico Madrid believes the loan option is a deal many teams will be willing to take.

Chelsea favourites to sign Felix

However, fresh reports indicate that Chelsea are the strong favourites to sign the former Benfica star albeit temporarily.

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According to The Athletic, a verbal agreement has already been reached between the involved parties although a deal is yet to be reached.

The publication claims Chelsea will pay a loan fee of £9.68million (€11million) to seal the transfer of the Portuguese star.

Atletico Madrid eye Thomas Tuchel

Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel is the new favourite to take over from the struggling Simeone at Atletico Madrid, with the La Liga giants in search of a new manager, Daily Mail reports.

Tuchel is without a club at the moment after being sacked by English Premier League giants Chelsea in early September, following a poor run of form with the Blues.

Former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino is also the club's back-up option if their pursuit of Tuchel fails.

Diego Simeone praises Antoine Griezmann

Earlier, Sports Brief reported on Antoine Griezmann returning to his best, and Diego Simeone loving it.

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The Atletico Madrid manager had nothing but praise for the French attacker after his recent upturn in form.

Griezmann endured a difficult start to the season and was reduced to limited game time, after swapping the Madrid club for Barcelona and failing to make his mark for the Catalan side.