In one of the great unexpected transfer window twists of our time, Matt Doherty is an Atletico Madrid player.
Doherty's Spurs contract was terminated on Tuesday to allow him to join Atletico on a six-month contract until the end of the season.
It is certainly a surprising move, with little to no rumour of the Irishman leaving North London throughout the January transfer window until deadline day.
He is now the first Irish player to play for one of Spain's "big three" clubs - and Atleti used a rather unique video to announce his arrival.
Matt Doherty: Atleti nod to 2016 with announcement tweet
Matt Doherty's arrival at Atletico Madrid was announced with a video of the ex-Bohs man typing a tweet from the club's Spanish language account which read: "Absolutely love watching Atlético de Madrid play"
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) January 31, 2023
Atletico's announcement of Matt Doherty was a nod to a 2016 tweet from the Irish wing-back.
During Atleti's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, Doherty would tweet "Absolutely love watching Athletico Madrid play" - judging by the time of the tweet, it came in the dying stages of the match, as the team secured their place in the final against local rivals Real.
Absolutely love watching Athletico Madrid play 👏
— Matt Doherty (@mattdoherty20) May 3, 2016
Of course, Atletico's video announcement of Doherty corrected his spelling of the club's name. When the rumours of Doherty's arrival in Madrid first began on Tuesday morning, Atleti fans were quick to poke fun at the Dubliner for his near-seven-year-old tweet, and his misspelling of "Atletico". In the video posted on Tuesday evening, Doherty even completely misspells "Atletico" on his first attempt, perhaps in a nod to the 2016 tweet.
Atletico's announcement video for Doherty is in the same vein as Spurs' announcement video when they signed the full-back from Wolves in 2020.
Doherty was seen on video deleting old tweets which saw him effuse about his love for Spurs' bitter rivals Arsenal, before tapping the Spurs crest on his jersey affectionately.
*Delete* 😬
#WelcomeDoherty ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/dNRuGv6DTI— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 30, 2020
We're big fans of a fun announcement video, and Matt Doherty is a good sport for poking fun at himself on both occasions.
It remains to be seen whether Doherty can fight his way into the first team in Madrid, with Argentina right-back Nahuel Molina his main competition. With the team light on defensive options, Doherty will hope for some regular game-time, and to earn a long term contract in the Spanish capital come the summer.
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