Carrasco re-joins Atletico Madrid
Yannick Carrasco has re-joined Atletico Madrid from Dalian Yifang on loan until the end of the season and boss Diego Simeone has not ruled out further deadline-day arrivals.
Belgium international Carrasco trained with Atletico prior to confirmation of the deal being announced on Saturday (AEDT) and Simeone hopes to be able to call upon him in the LaLiga meeting with rival Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday (AEDT).
The 26-year-old joined Atletico from Monaco in 2015 and left for Chinese Super League side Dalian in February 2018, but Simeone is pleased to have him back.
"[Carrasco] is excited and wants to be here," Simeone said. "If the paperwork is done, he will certainly be with us [against Madrid].
"I want him to come with the same commitment we spoke about on the telephone. I liked Yannick's desire to come to Atletico. That is an important step for what can happen next."
Atletico reportedly failed with an €18 million ($29.4 million) bid for Edinson Cavani, whose contract at Paris Saint-Germain will expire at the end of the season, but there may still be new additions on deadline day.
"There are still a few hours left. Anything can happen," Simeone said.
The Atleti boss has been subject to increasing criticism in recent weeks, with his team falling 10 points behind LaLiga leader Madrid and suffering elimination from the Copa del Rey to third-tier Cultural Leonesa.
Zinedine Zidane spoke out in support of his cross-city counterpart and Simeone was thankful for his words.
"It's nice when a colleague of Zidane's quality thinks this way. I return the message," the Argentine said.
"He is the ideal coach for Madrid. He has the rank and the ability to do what he feels. He returned to compete like he had before he left.
"Madrid have improved a lot defensively. They are very strong. They have many options in attack and that allows him to play with different players.
"It will be a match where the details and intelligence will have a lot of dominance."
