Atletico Madrid to seal €15m move, defender will not leave in January

Atletico Madrid and Inter Miami are set to complete a deal for Rodrigo de Paul. The Argentina international left in the summer to join up with compatriot Lionel Messi in a loan deal with an option to buy.

De Paul, who has been on and off linked with an exit from Los Rojiblancos for some time, was subject to an offer from Inter Miami in the summer. With heavy investment in their midfield in the form of Johnny Cardoso and Alex Baena, they were willing to part with a key cog in the middle of the pitch, although at the time it was reported that Diego Simeone was keen to hang onto him.

De Paul move to be made permanent

As reported by Marca among others, Inter Miami have now confirmed that they have exercised their option to make the deal permanent in exchange for €15m. The move will be made official at the end of January. De Paul, now 31, was just a year away from seeing out his Atletico contract, and faced with potentially handing a lucrative deal to a player into their thirties, decided to cash in on him.

He arrived for €35m from Udinese in 2021, and after four years at the Metropolitano, managed 187 appearances, 14 goals and 26 assists.

BREAKING: Atlético Madrid priority for this winter transfer window is to sign a left-back.

Neither Javi Galán nor Ruggeri have convinced, and the club is looking to transfer one of them in order to sign another left-back to raise the level.@PedroFullanaSER pic.twitter.com/pSoSjIihHB

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) December 13, 2025

Nahuel Molina will not exit in January

Despite interest from Juventus, both in the summer and in recent months, Nahuel Molina is set to remain at Atletico. Another of the Argentine contingent, Molina has been playing second fiddle to Marcos Llorente at right-back this season, Matteo Moretto explains that Los Rojiblancos are content with his performances, and will not allow him to leave.

El Atlético de Madrid está contento con el rendimiento de Nahuel Molina y tiene plena confianza en él, que es titular indiscutible de la Selección argentina.

Molina jugó a un gran nivel contra el Inter, en la Champions, y contra el Barcelona, en LaLiga, donde también dio una…

— Matteo Moretto (@MatteMoretto) December 12, 2025

Molina, 27, also arrived from Udinese in 2022, and has two years left on his deal. Although he has lost his place to Llorente in defence, he does appear to remain ahead of new signing Marc Pubill in the pecking order for the time being.

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