Marcos Paulo: Things to know about Atletico Madrid's new signing

With all the excitement surrounding Euro 2020, it's easy to let club dealings slip under the radar.

Atletico Madrid recently secured the signing of Portuguese forward Marcos Paulo from Fluminense, with the 20-year-old penning a five-year deal with La Liga's champions after leaving his boyhood club on a free transfer.

Any of you Football Manager boffins out there are probably desperate to load up your latest save following the mere mention of a Brazilian wonderkid, but before you go dishing out ten-year deals to a fella you'd probably never heard of before reading this article, here's everything you need to know about the young forward...

1. He had a release clause of €45m at just 17

€45m (£38.5m) at the age of 17!

The forward had been at Fluminense since he was 11 years old and he was clearly very well thought of at the club. The Brazilian giants slapped a whopping release clause on his head before he'd barely even made a first-team appearance.

Since then his stock has only continued to rise as he's churned out a number of quality performances, it's just a shame they failed to agree terms over a new deal and lost him for nothing. Bit silly really.

2. He's been pursued by European sides for a while

We're not exaggerating when we say A LOT of teams have been touted with a move for Marcos Paulo.

If we were to list all of the sides rumoured to be interested in him at one point or another over the past three years we'd be here all day, so let's just say sides from Ligue 1, Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League have all been linked with him.

Sounds like Atletico have done some brilliant business getting him in on a free transfer.

3. He seems to have chosen to represent Portugal over Brazil

The reason we say he 'seems' to have chosen to represent Portugal over Brazil is because there's still time for him to change his mind.

Until he makes a senior appearance - something he's yet to do - Marcos Paulo can still change his mind, but for now his allegiance is with Portugal.

Born in Brazil, the youngster is eligible to play for Portugal via his Portuguese grandfather, though in the very early days of his career he made a number of appearances for the Brazil youth sides.

However, since 2019 he's represented Portugal and has made a handful of appearances for their Under-18 and Under-19 squads.

4. What's Marcos Paulo's preferred position?

One of the best parts of the youngster's game - and probably one of the main reasons Diego Simeone was so interested in him - is his versatility.

Even at just 20 years of age he's been known to play in a number of positions across the frontline, though his natural position is on the left of a front three where he's able to utilise his speed and dribbling ability.

That being said, at international level he tends to be deployed as a striker and his quality in front of goal means he's more than able to fulfil the role when needed.

No doubt we'll see how good he is at right-back after a few months under Simeone.

5. Can he be expected to feature in the first team next season?

Despite the hype around the 20-year-old's evident ability, Atletico had been expected to immediately loan him out for a season following his arrival.

That looks to have all changed following the news Vitolo has moved on loan to Getafe, and Marca now report that Simeone is keen to integrate the youngster into the first team and he's likely to be given his chance to impress in pre-season with a number of first-team players still away on international duty.