Atlético Madrid sell Molina to Roma for €18m after four seasons at the Metropolitano

Nahuel Molina is on the verge of ending his four-year spell at Atlético Madrid, with the Spanish club and Roma having reached a verbal agreement on a fee of around €18 million for the Argentine right-back. Personal terms are also understood to have been agreed, and the transfer is expected to be formalised before the end of the week.

The Structure of the Deal

The fee is split into a fixed portion and performance-related add-ons. Gianluca Di Marzio reports the base fee at €13 million with up to €4 million in bonuses — figures transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has also been tracking. Molina is reportedly set to sign a contract with Roma through to mid-2029 on an annual salary of roughly €3 million.

Atlético paid around €12 million to sign Molina from Udinese in 2022, meaning the sale represents a modest profit on 181 official appearances, nine goals and 17 assists across four seasons. He arrived at the Metropolitano as a World Cup winner and departs as a World Cup runner-up, having also added the Finalissima and the Copa América to his international honours — though he never lifted a trophy in Rojiblanco colours.

Why Atlético Are Ready to Move On

Director of football Mateu Alemany reportedly flagged Molina as available for transfer as soon as preseason began, and Diego Simeone had not been treating him as a first-choice option for some time. The 28-year-old fell behind Marcos Llorente and Marc Pubill in the right-back pecking order — with some irony, the same pair who represented Spain in the World Cup final against Argentina — and managed just 46 appearances across all competitions in 2025-26.

That drop in minutes made the decision to sell relatively straightforward for Atlético. The club are said to be targeting a top-level centre-back this summer and plan to reinvest funds raised from outgoings as part of a broader defensive reshuffle. Simeone has already confirmed that Matteo Ruggeri will remain at left-back despite Roma’s reported interest in that position.

What Roma Are Getting

For Roma, Molina addresses a clear need at right-back and brings proven familiarity with Italian football. He spent two seasons at Udinese between 2020 and 2022, contributing 10 goals and 10 assists in 68 appearances — the form that originally persuaded Atlético to sign him.

Molina would also join a growing Argentine contingent at Roma that already includes Paulo Dybala, Matías Soulé and new marquee signing Santiago Castro, who arrived from Bologna for around €35 million. His move is framed by Infobae as part of a wider dispersal of Argentina’s World Cup generation, alongside Marcos Senesi’s switch from Bournemouth to Tottenham and Thiago Almada’s anticipated departure.

Boca Juniors, who developed Molina as a youth player, are set to receive around €500,000 through FIFA’s solidarity mechanism once the transfer is completed.