Atletico Madrid are reportedly pushing to wrap up a deal for Girona forward Artem Dovbyk.
Diego Simeone has just witnessed Alvaro Morata, who scored 21 goals in all competitions in 2023-24, complete a transfer to AC Milan.
With Memphis Depay also departing as a free agent, the Argentine has been left with a considerable void to fill in the final third.
Highly-rated Samu Omorodion is back at the club having spent time at Alaves and will seemingly remain at Civitas Metropolitano for the upcoming campaign.
Nevertheless, it appears that Simeone and club officials were against becoming overly-reliant on the youngster, instead going out to acquire an experienced alternative.
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Atletico turn to Dovbyk
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Atletico will likely be bringing in Dovbyk as Morata's replacement.
The Ukraine international has just enjoyed the best season of his career, scoring 24 goals from 32 appearances - the best return in La Liga - in what also proved to be Girona's most historic campaign.
Against the odds, one of the smaller teams in Spain's top flight finished in third place, subsequently securing Champions League football for the first time ever.
However, Girona were seemingly only able to sign Dovbyk with the inclusion of an attainable release clause, said to be of the value of €40m (£33.6m).
Romano adds that the 27-year-old has already given the green light to the move, with Atletico at the stage where they are attempting to resolve minor issues with the payment structure.
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Another blow for Girona
Even before this proposed transfer, Girona's starting lineup had already been severely weakened in comparison to last season.
Yan Couto and Eric Garcia have returned to Manchester City and Barcelona respectively, while Savio has completed a permanent transfer to the former.
Aleix Garcia has also been sold to Bayer Leverkusen, with Dovbyk soon to become the fifth star man to move on from Estadi Montilivi.
Replacement have been and will be sought, yet Michel will have a vastly different-looking squad to oversee for the 2024-25 campaign.
Darren Plant
