Atletico Madrid to sign Mario Hermoso LaLiga Will become official in the coming hours

Mario Hermoso will become an Atletico Madrid player later today after Espanyol accepted an offer for the centre-back which was far from his 40 million euro release clause.

Los Periquitos had been demanding the 40m euro figure, but with one year left on his contract, they cleared feared losing him for nothing next summer.

The deal will be announced imminently, so Hermoso may not play in Espanyol's pre-season friendly against Peralada tonight. He has been included in the squad and David Gallego's goal was to give him some minutes.

In fact, Atletico are expecting Hermoso to join their pre-season training base in Los Angeles de San Rafael on Thursday or Friday at the latest.

Los Rojiblancos have therefore secured their fourth centre-back ahead of next season, a week before they go on tour to the United States. Hermoso will fight for a place in Diego Simeone's starting line-up with Felipe Monteiro, Jose Maria Gimenez and Stefan Savic.