Chinese Super League transfer window makes Simeone ´uncomfortable´

Diego Simeone acknowledged the threat of financially powerful Chinese Super League clubs buying his players has made him feel “uncomfortable”, as Yannick Carrasco nears a move to Dalian Yifang.

Carrasco joined Atletico in 2015 and looked promising in his first two seasons, but the Belgium international has been more of a peripheral figure this term.

The 24-year-old has started just eight of Atletico’s 24 LaLiga games this season and scored three goals, with the club’s impressive array of attacking talent counting against him.

Yifang emerged as a potential destination in recent days and Simeone has previously suggested the transfer is entirely down to Carrasco, who could also be joined at the Super League club by Fernando Torres.

Although the 33-year-old’s potential exit is not as far along as Carrasco’s, Simeone accepts he is “worried” about the financial lure of Chinese football and suggests there should be a single transfer deadline for all, with the Super League’s transfer window not due to end until February 28.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Sunday’s trip to Sevilla, Simeone said: “I am worried because with all the money that goes around, aside from the decision of the players, for the coaches it’s uncomfortable because you think about what can happen.

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— Atletico de Madrid (@atletienglish) February 24, 2018

“It’s not the player, the representative, the negotiations [that cause you to worry] – it’s the amount of time, because it [the CSL transfer window] ends on February 28.

“It is two months in which the heads of the players can be turned. It would be better to put a deadline for everyone, so that clubs, coaches and players are calmer.

“I cannot say much about Carrasco because he is negotiating his situation. Fernando’s position I do not have any news of. We all train well and when the market is over, we will evaluate what might happen.

“I never get into people’s choices. Whenever I grow, I see it as a good thing. If it is economic growth it is a personal choice. In football I’m never surprised.”