Atletico Madrid strengthen at right-back with Tottenham's Matt Doherty

With the transfer of Felipe Monteiro to Nottingham Forest having been completed on Tuesday, Atlético Madrid have strengthened at right-back for the second half of the season with the signing of Matt Doherty, a 31-year-old Irish international from Tottenham until the end of the current season to compete for a place in the starting XI with the Argentine Nahuel Molina.

The announcement at around 11pm CET was made via a video with the player, who was already at the Metropolitano on Tuesday to sign his contract, recalling the tweet he posted six years ago during the Champions League semi-final between his new team and Bayern Munich in the German city, when he was still playing for Wolverhampton: "I love watching Atlético Madrid play".

Doherty has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons at Tottenham, making 71 appearances (54 starts), scoring three goals and laying on eight assists; 16 of those games (10 starts), have come this season, when he started as a substitute in Antonio Conte's team but then partly regained the starting role.

Even so, Spurs' move in the winter transfer window for Pedro Porro, also a right-back, has seen him leave the squad.

And he heads for Atlético Madrid, who have had a need in that position since the summer, since they put together a squad with only one natural full-back for that position, the World Cup winner with Argentina Nahuel Molina, with Marcos Llorente as an alternative, although the passing of the games has determined the importance of having the Madrid native in positions more suited to his qualities than in defence or on the wing.