World Cup-winner Nahuel Molina started off the season with a series of concerning performances at Atletico Madrid, but ended it as one of the most convincing in Diego Simeone’s side. Nobody was more trusted than he was all season.
Arriving from Udinese in the summer for €20m, an early red card and one or two errors made his adaptation to life in Madrid an uphill task. However having returned from Qatar with a winners’ medal, Molina began putting in performances that single him out as one of the best in the division.
Scoring 4 times and assisting twice in his 33 La Liga appearances, Molina became an attacking threat too. He was also Simeone’s most used player all season, racking up 3,731 minutes in 43 out of Atleti’s 49 games. As per Diario AS, this is the first time a new signing has become the most-used player, ahead of Antoine Griezmann (3,625 minutes) and Jan Oblak (3,424), who missed a number of games towards the end of the campaign through injury.
In Molina, it finally looks as if Atletico have their right-back position settled. For two seasons after their title victory, injuries to and then the departure of Kieran Trippier prevented continuity at the position. Trippier was a key part of their structure, and while Molina interprets the role differently, it now appears Atletico Madrid have a solution there for several seasons to come.
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