Atletico Madrid Attempting To Bring Roberto Soldado Back To Spain

Tottenham striker Roberto Soldado was signed last summer for £26 million from Valencia. Prior to his arrival at White Hart Lane, the Spain international had made 101 appearances and scored 59 goals for his La Liga club – and had also scored 7 goals in 12 appearances for his country.

Soldado’s last season in Spain saw the product of Real Madrid’s youth system bag 24 goals in La Liga.

So it appeared that his signing in August 2013 would give Tottenham a natural goal scorer who might help replace the loss of Gareth Bale to Los Blancos.

But the striker was unable to duplicate that goal scoring success during his first season in the Premier League. The net result of his first season with Spurs was 28 appearances and six goals, with only two of those goals coming from open play.

Soldado struggled to find his form under former Tottenham managers Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood last season. And prior to the start of this season, the word coming from North London is that new Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t see the 29-year-old striker as part of the clubs long term plans.

The Argentinian boss has stated he is “happy with the squad”, but he also noted that he needed time to get a feel for his new players before making any decisions.

Harry Kane has given hope that he can be Spurs target man for the future and Emmanuel Adebayor has proven that he can score in the Premier League. Speculation is that Soldado could be the odd-man out in regards to Spurs striking options under Pochettino.

But the player is being offered a lifeline in the form of a possible loan move to La Liga champions, Atletico Madrid.

Word in Spain is that Diego Simeone has asked club officials to negotiate a loan move for Soldado, since the club would be unable to afford the big-money signing on a permanent basis.

Simeone is a fan of the striker from his early days in La Liga and sees Soldado as another scoring option for Los Colchoneros following the departure of Diego Costa to Chelsea.

Atletico Madrid have made a number of solid signings this summer after seeing Costa, David Villa, Filipe Luis and Thiabaut Courtois leave the club. But early returns for the Atleti this preseason have seen an extremely low amount of goals.

That’s why Simeone has green lit a move for the Tottenham striker who struggled so mightily during his first season in English football.

Soldado is rumored to want a return to Spain and Atletico have opened the door for a La Liga homecoming. But any move would hinge on Spurs ability to sign serviceable striker to replace Soldado, since Pochettino ideally wants to play with three forwards.

Stay tuned to this developing story.