Roma Agree €18m Deal for Atlético’s Molina as Argentine Era Ends in Madrid | OneFootball

Nahuel Molina is on the verge of leaving Atlético de Madrid for Roma, with the clubs having reached a verbal agreement on a fee and the Argentine right-back already understood to have agreed personal terms. The move allows Atlético to reinvest in their squad, with a top-level centre-back among their priorities this summer.

Agreement in Place, Details to Finalise

Infobae report that the operation is valued at around €18 million in total, with a fixed portion complemented by performance-related bonuses estimated at between €3 and €4 million – figures consistent with what transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has been tracking across the negotiation. According to transfer specialist Gianluca Di Marzio, Atlético accepted a proposal worth €13 million plus up to €4 million in bonuses. The intention is to formalise the deal within the current week, with Molina signing a contract through to mid-2029 at an annual salary of approximately €3 million.

Molina is currently still part of the Atlético squad on paper, though the club has no intention of blocking his departure. Director of football Mateu Alemany reportedly labelled him transferable the moment he returned to preseason, and Diego Simeone has not treated him as an indispensable figure for some time.

What Atlético Are Selling and Why

The numbers are worth contextualising. Atlético paid roughly €12 million to bring Molina from Udinese in 2022, so at around €18 million all-in they are turning a modest profit on a player who served 181 official appearances – 131 of those as a starter – contributing nine goals and 17 assists over four seasons. That is a workmanlike return, not a spectacular one, and it reflects accurately enough how Molina’s standing at the club evolved.

He arrived as a World Cup winner and left as a World Cup runner-up, having added the Finalissima in 2022 and the Copa América in 2024 to his collection while wearing the Colchonero shirt. At international level he remained a significant figure for Lionel Scaloni. At club level he gradually lost ground, eventually falling behind Marcos Llorente and Marc Pubill – the pair who, with some irony, beat Argentina in the World Cup final representing Spain. Molina made 46 appearances across all competitions in 2025-26, a figure that made the decision to sell straightforward rather than painful.

Infobae note that Atlético are pursuing a top centre-back and will look to reinvest the funds raised from outgoings this summer. Cristian Romero is among those expected to leave Tottenham, and the broader defensive reshuffling at Atlético this summer underlines that Simeone is reconfiguring the backline rather than simply reacting to unsolicited bids.

Roma’s Rationale and the Argentine Colony Growing in the Capital

For Roma, Molina fills a specific need at right-back. The club has been building its squad ahead of the new season and Molina’s proven Serie A credentials made him an attractive target.

Those credentials are not negligible. Molina spent two seasons at Udinese between 2020 and 2022, making 68 appearances and registering 10 goals and 10 assists – numbers that made Atlético’s original move for him so logical. He knows the league, the pace of the game, and the demands of European football. For a side building under their current management, a 28-year-old with that profile and two World Cup campaigns on his record represents a pragmatic piece of business rather than a gamble.

Roma’s Argentine contingent is already notable – Paulo Dybala and Matías Soulé were already in place before this summer – and Santiago Castro, the Argentine striker who joined from Bologna for around €35 million, has just been presented as the club’s marquee signing. Molina’s arrival would bring that group to four, a concentration that may be coincidental but is unlikely to harm dressing-room integration.

The Broader Argentine Exodus

Infobae frame Molina’s exit within a wider reshaping of the Argentine generation that reached two World Cup finals in succession. Marcos Senesi has moved from Bournemouth to Tottenham, Nicolás Otamendi from Benfica to River Plate, while further moves are anticipated for Julián Álvarez, Thiago Almada, and Enzo Fernández among others. Romero himself is expected to leave Tottenham. The cohort that featured prominently in Argentina’s run to the World Cup final is scattering across European football in a single window.

For Molina specifically, the move closes a chapter that delivered international glory without a club title. He won nothing with Atlético despite appearing in a side that competed deep into knockout rounds most seasons. Whether Roma offer a more fertile environment for that particular itch remains to be answered, but the fit on paper is solid and the personal terms have already been settled. Boca Juniors, who formed him in their youth system, will receive approximately €500,000 through the solidarity mechanism once the transfer is formally registered.

Barring a last-minute complication, Molina’s four-year stint in Madrid ends this week, and Atlético’s attention turns swiftly to how they spend what they have raised.