La Liga manager breaks silence on Barcelona loanee’s lack of minutes

Clement Lenglet’s late move to Atletico Madrid in the summer served as a relief for many, even within the Barcelona management, as well as fans.

The Frenchman was seemingly becoming a liability for Barcelona due to his lack of prominence in the team, coupled with his high salary.

Barcelona were initially looking to offload Lenglet on a permanent deal, but ultimately settled for a loan deal, with the defender joining direct rivals Atletico.

Diego Simeone praises Lenglet

In a recent media interaction, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has heaped praise on Lenglet for his drive and determination to improve.

Lenglet is the only new signing for Atletico Madrid, who is yet to feature in a single minute so far this season. Despite that, Simeone praised the defender’s humility.

“I’m sure he can get some minutes before the October break like the rest of the players who are in a position to compete. He is working very hard on what we need, he has to be aware of what we need in that position,” he said (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

“He is someone with great humility, a work ethic, and an absolute drive to improve. We coaches like to have a player with that drive to want to improve,” he added.

Simeone went on to list out some of the good qualities that make Lenglet a special player for Atletico Madrid.

“Clement is working very well to improve and adapt to the way the team works. He is a boy who competes very well, he has very good aerial play. He competes against boys who are doing very well,” he highlighted.

When asked about his chances of getting into the first-team plans, Simeone noted that Lenglet must compete with Reinildo.

“Reinildo is doing very well. Despite not having the technical quality that Lenglet has, he has other qualities that improve the defensive part,” he said.

“We are looking accordingly for the rivals, we are looking for which game to count on one and which game to count on another. We know that we can make mistakes,” the Argentine added.

With the Champions League campaign already underway, it will be interesting to see whether or not Atletico Madrid’s tight schedule will force Simeone to hand Lenglet a rare opportunity to start in the coming weeks.