Atletico Transfer Dealings Face Further Scrutiny as Sevilla Open Legal Case Over Vitolo Deal

Atletico Madrid's transfer dealings are under the spotlight again after Sevilla confirmed they will sue their La Liga rivals over the transfer of former star Vitolo.

Atletico landed the forward in a €37.5m deal and immediately loaned him out to Las Palmas as they continue to wait out their current transfer embargo, which ends in January.

However, ESPN has reported that Sevilla have been left infuriated by Vitolo's and Atletico's conduct and have opened legal proceedings against the pair after they claimed the transfer should not have gone ahead.

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Sevilla claimed that Vitolo agreed to extend his contract at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium just 48 hours before he completed a switch to Wanda Metropolitano.

Club president Jose Castro told reporters on 10th July that the 27-year-old would remain at Sevilla beyond this summer as he agreed to pen a new deal with his then employers.

Castro said at the time: "Today you can say that Vitolo is a Sevilla player. There was a lot of talk and we have heard for many days the colours that Vitolo would wear -- and they will be the white and red of Sevilla.

"He is one of the captains of this club, he gives everything on the pitch and we can only have words of praise for him. Sevilla, instead of talking, have acted."

Just two days later, however, Vitolo had swapped clubs and joined Diego Simeone's side after he triggered the release clause in his own contract.

Sevilla are now pressing ahead with taking the case to the relevant authorities and are hopeful of suing Atletico, Vitolo and Las Palmas for decent wedges of cash for their parts in the deal.

Vitolo had made 177 appearances in all competitions for Eduardo Berizzo's team over the past four seasons, and it remains to be seen what kind of punishment will be put to all three parties if they are found guilty of breaching Sevilla's contractual agreement.