After 17 years and 427 first-team appearances for Atlético Madrid, Saúl Ñíguez has agreed to a contract termination with the club. He has joined Brazilian giants Flamengo, where he will be coached by former Atlético teammate Filipe Luis.
Saúl finaliza su vinculación con nuestro club y se despide como el noveno jugador que más veces ha vestido la rojiblanca.
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) July 23, 2025
➡️ https://t.co/sUz5ASmxh9
Mucha suerte en tu próximo reto profesional. ¡El Atleti siempre será tu casa! pic.twitter.com/qVralxjiuD
Saúl landed
in Rio on Tuesday night, having previously committed to join Turkish side Trabzonspor — where another of his former teammates, Stefan Savić, now plays. He backed out of that move due to “personal stuff” and has instead signed a three-and-a-half year contract to play in Brazil.
Having long been out of the picture for Diego Simeone, it had just as long been a goal at the club to remove Saúl’s onerous contract from the books; Carlos Bucero and Miguel Ángel Gil have finally managed to do so. Saúl is leaving the majority of a €14 million gross salary on the table in order to depart Atlético after several difficult seasons.
Welcome to Flamengo, Saúl Ñíguez ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7eao5uotwI
— Flamengo (@Flamengo_en) July 23, 2025
Saúl leaves as the player with the eighth-most appearances in club history, a player who scored 48 goals and provided 26 assists after debuting for the first team on March 8, 2012. Upon joining Atleti from Real Madrid’s youth setup in 2008, Saúl rose through the ranks and became a first-team regular during the 2014/15 campaign, following a strong loan spell at Rayo Vallecano. During his first full season in the team, Saúl scored an overhead kick in a 4-0 home win over Real Madrid and played through a serious kidney injury against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
Saúl’s most memorable moment in red and white came on April 27, 2016, when he scored an incredible solo goal in the first leg of a Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich. Dribbling through the entire Bayern defense, Saúl stuck a left-footed shot off the far post and beyond Manuel Neuer on 11 minutes; Atlético held on for a 1-0 victory and advanced to the Champions League final the following week. A year later, he signed a nine-year contract, tying him to the club until 2026.
Garnering a reputation as a big-game player for vital Champions League goals against Leverkusen, Leicester (both in 2017), and Liverpool (in 2020), Saúl was one of the first names on Cholo Simeone’s team sheet for years, as a central midfielder before Simeone converted him into a serviceable left-back.
But when his form declined during the COVID season of 2020/21, he lost his starting role as Atlético won LaLiga for the first time in seven years. After that, the club began the slow process of moving Saúl’s wages off the books — beginning with an unsuccessful loan to Chelsea in 2021, then another loan to Sevilla in 2024.
Sandwiched in between were two seasons in which Saúl played 87 more times for Atleti, but he started fewer than half of those games. The magic was gone. Saúl’s confidence never seemed to return; Simeone turned to him more out of a paucity of options in central midfield or at left-back than a genuine expectation he would change the course of a match.
Our friends at Atlético Universe translated Saúl’s letter in full below. The copied-and-pasted version is underneath the embed.
¡Mucha suerte, Saúl!
Saúl Ñíguez's with an emotional farewell message to Atlético Madrid and its fans:
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) July 23, 2025
"I love you, Atleti!
Infinite thanks for everything. I can’t say goodbye to my life, to what has meant everything to me in my professional career.
17 years from a boy to today, 17 years…… pic.twitter.com/nuTQagIG5K
“I love you, Atleti!
Infinite thanks for everything. I can’t say goodbye to my life, to what has meant everything to me in my professional career.
17 years from a boy to today, 17 years…
Atleti was, is, and will always be everything to me.
I arrived as a child and I’m leaving as an adult. I’ve lived everything at Atleti!
It’s hard to express, but I love Atleti, the club I grew up with. I love the values it taught me. I love El Cerro. I was obsessed with the Vicente Calderón. I love the Metropolitano. I love that my daughter sings the Atleti anthem and that it’s her favorite. I love that my friends have become Atleti fans by living it with me. I love everything about Atleti. Maybe I idealize it too much because I’m a colchonero through and through.
When I think back over these 17 years, I think of my parents. Without their sacrifice, I wouldn’t be writing this. They know it. Sometimes I missed them a lot when I was living in Madrid as a kid. I also had two brothers who played football, constantly moving from one place to another. They gave me the best advice to fight for my dreams. Thank you, mom and dad.
To come up through the academy and end up playing in the first team—
you could say it’s a dream come true. And when it’s the club of your life…
I’m grateful to every person I’ve crossed paths with in these 17 years. Absolutely all of them, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I always tried to learn from the best, like my role model Fernando Torres, Gabi, Godín, Koke… pure Atleti.
I also want to thank the person who saw something in me and gave me the chance to debut for Atleti: Diego Simeone. I always wanted to be a great student, to prove myself and help the team wherever needed. I’ve grown alongside you—we’ve shared unforgettable moments, tense moments, celebrations, conversations, and more…
With you, I matured as a player. I tried to give my all for the club.
Thanks again, Cholo.
To the fans, thank you for all the love you’ve always shown me. Let me tell you—it reaches us. And it reaches me, every time. You’re the best fans. Demanding as can be, but so grateful. As you often say on social media—“one of us,” “Better Call Saul,” “Saulazo,” and all the rest… I can promise you I gave my all, even my health, to help the team. You made me feel loved, and most of all, like part of Atleti. Now I am one of you, and you can count on me.
During my time at Atleti, I built a family with my wife Yaiza, whom I love deeply, and life gave us two wonderful children, África and Enzo. And also Marco, who is on the way, and I take this chance to share the news. There’s nothing more valuable to me than family. An unforgettable chapter. The values present in my family are thanks to what Atleti taught me. I’ve had Atleti’s crest tattooed on my arm for years now… you never forget anything.
And after 427 matches, it’s time to start a new adventure. I’ll keep celebrating every year that goes by since my debut with the team of my life, March 8, 2012.
THANK YOU, ATLETI!”
¡Gracias, Saúl! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/eIyrjx9HoG
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) July 23, 2025
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