Matt Doherty's deadline day move wasn’t part of the blueprint.
Atletico Madrid’s plan to bring their brand to Ireland was in motion long before Doherty’s shock switch from Tottenham last January.
Carlos Aguirre, a former Atletico academy prospect, had been in Dublin for 16 months before the La Liga giants snapped up their first Irish signing, working as the coordinator of the Spanish giants’ academy here.
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Up to now it has been a small operation - one of thousands of Atletico projects around the world.
But Aguirre is ready to turn it into one of the club’s elite international academies - an operation that could one day send Irish kids to Spain.
“Atletico has international projects all over the world - maybe 15,000 projects per season - and most of them are camps and clinics and all that sort of stuff,” Aguirre told Mirror Sport.
“But there are not so many big international projects, maybe five or 10.”
Aguirre was working as a coach at the club’s main academy in Madrid, his hometown, when the chance to move to Ireland came about.
A link-up with FC Eagles allowed them to utilise the Chapelizod side’s Phoenix Park facilities.
“I received a call to build this one in Ireland a year and a half ago, and here we are,” he said.
“We are trying to build a successful academy, knowing that this is not a sprint, but a marathon.
“We want to build something meaningful here, something very strong. We are at the very beginning of this and next season we are going to be an official academy.”
Ireland was chosen for a number of reasons.
One factor was Atletico’s desire to have a presence in an English-speaking European country and Brexit complicated their path to the UK.
“The Irish football industry is not as strong as in the rest of Europe, but the raw materials here mean the players here are good to work with,” added Aguirre.
He sees the potential for a two-way movement of players between Spain and Ireland in the future, but insists that finding the Irish Fernando Torres is not the be all and end all.
“One goal is to have future players going to Atletico. That is something that we cannot deny,” said Aguirre.
“But that is not the main point. The goal is to create something meaningful, to expand the Atletico brand across Europe.
“So why not also have the potential space for Spanish Atletico players to play in the Irish league through this academy?
“I’m talking about the future if the academy is bigger than what we have now.”
Last year, 120 children trained in the academy. The plan is to at least double that number.
Later this month, three of the academy’s teams will travel to Madrid to take part in the MadCup - a huge international youth tournament that takes place annually in the Spanish capital.
“We want a basis on which to build the pillars of the future Atletico Madrid academy in Dublin, which will be way bigger than what we have now,” he said.
“Let’s say we have 120 kids so far. But with a new brand, hopefully it will be 250 kids. And after that, so on and so on; we will get bigger and bigger.
“So why not project to have Atletico players playing here, or Irish players from our academy playing in Atletico. Or somewhere else?
“The possibility that through Atletico and our contacts, those guys could play somewhere else in the future, that is also fantastic.
“Again, it is not the main point and this is not why we are here, but we cannot deny that the footballers here cannot play out there in the future.”
Doherty’s time at Atletico has come to an end, and a move back to England is likely, with newly promoted Burnley and Sheffield United taking an interest in the wing-back.
However, the La Liga giants’ relationship with Ireland is just beginning, according to Aguirre.
“We have 120 kids now training three days a week, at the moment from Under-8s to Under-17s,” he said.
Open training sessions have already begun in the Phoenix Park and will continue to run until June 21.
The planned expansion of the academy means that not only is Aguirre on the lookout for new players, but also new coaches.
“We will grow in terms of players, so we will need to grow in terms of coaches,” he said.
“We are very strict. The coaches have to be at least UEFA C (Licence holders). That is mandatory.
“We are here not only to show the Atletico brand, but to behave like an Atletico player and an Atletico coach.
“Because of that, they receive all the methodology from Madrid.
“The coaches will go for a coach experience at the end of August, before the season starts, just for them to experience being in Madrid
“They will stay in the Atletico residence, use the facilities, receive classes… all that in the Atletico environment so they can come back to Dublin and apply all their learning.”
# FOR MORE information on open training days and trials, visit the academy's website or email Carlos Aguirre (cfaguirre@atleticodemadrid.com).
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