Gareth Messenger

"I think that with over 10 years' experience in the first division, I'm fully qualified to manage a team. It's a normal step for a second coach who wants to become a head coach."

Most attuned to the world of La Liga would have known that this was inevitable, but still it makes the situation still difficult to bear for those associated to Atletico Madrid. 

Long-serving crew member German Burgos is leaving the ship, to become the captain of his own voyage. 

If you thought Atletico’s struggles would be this season, after losing Diego Godin, Lucas Hernandez, Antoine Griezmann, Juanfran, Filipe Luis, and others, you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that it would certainly shake the foundations, but Burgos’ exit will rock the very heart of Atleti.

The club is losing one of its great leaders, whom alongside Diego Simeone, has helped Los Colchoneros go from “good La Liga team” to “a force to be feared across the continent”.

It will not represent a huge challenge of Diego Simeone’s managerial ability. Can he inject the same passion into his players without the glue that helps stick it all together? Remember when Rui Faria left the side of Jose Mourinho, many questioned whether The Special One will be able to find a second wind – it didn’t work – he was sacked by Manchester United just months after Faria left his side.

On his relationship with Simeone, Burgos added: "He's a friend, we've known each other for such a long time. 

"We understand each other with gestures, without gestures, with a glance, with a nod of the head. I've said this before, but I've had lunch and dinner more times with El Cholo than with my own family. 

"We've been together eight years in the Argentina national team, several years at Atletico Madrid as players and eight years here as coaches. It's a lot of time."

One could say Burgos is Atletico through and through. The man nicknamed “El Mono” (“the monkey”) joined Atleti in 2001, when the team was still only in the Segunda.

Burgos — who always wore a cap on the pitch and fronted a rock band in his spare time — stayed on as the team’s goalkeeper until his 2004 retirement. He played alongside both Fernando Torres and Diego Simeone that year.

If you thought Simeone was eccentric, then Burgos brings an added layer to that definition. He’s the big, mean-looking assistant that frightens many who step in his way. But you don’t spend so long alongside some of the world’s best players without a great mind and temperament.

Burgos has mellowed as the years have gone on, and now is his time to make the leap on his own, but he has one job left to do. 

He said: "The celebrations at the Fountain of Neptune, those red and white rivers and there are two specific moments - the first one was when El Cholo and I hugged when we won the league. That first hug, then there's that last hug we had in the changing rooms at Anfield. And – listen to this –  we owe ourselves the third one when we win the Champions League, because we have goals to be achieved."

Whether he succeeds or not remains to be seen, but his departure certainly raises some concerns over the long-term levels of expectation the football world should expect from Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone. His greatest friend leaving will be a bigger loss than any player moving on.