Betis, Valencia and Getafe Battle for Obed Vargas Loan from Atletico Madrid

Three LaLiga clubs have lined up for the same player, and Atletico Madrid still doesn't know what to do with him. The player in question is Obed Vargas, the 21-year-old Mexican midfielder the rojiblancos signed during the winter transfer window from Seattle Sounders FC.

According to multiple sources consulted by ESPN, Real Betis, Valencia and Getafe all want to land him on loan for this season. Vargas's camp has known about the interest from all three clubs for days now, but at Atletico nothing has been decided yet. It isn't even clear whether he'll be loaned out at all.

Why the hesitation? Because Atletico's midfield has gotten a lot more crowded. Diego Simeone brought in Morten Hjulmand this summer and re-signed a veteran like Koke, on top of already having Pablo Barrios, Johnny Cardoso and Rodrigo Mendoza at his disposal. Given that depth chart, the club hasn't ruled out sending either Obed or Mendoza himself out on loan in search of playing time, which would make sense considering both arrived last January as bets on the future rather than as guaranteed starters.

And it's not as if Vargas struggled when he got his chance: he played 13 matches in the second half of last season, 8 of them as a starter. He isn't some untested prospect. He's already shown he can compete in LaLiga.

Betis the most interested

Of the three suitors, Betis has been the most active so far. That's no coincidence: the Sevilla club has a reputation for knowing how to fish well in the Mexican market and has been tracking the World Cup veteran closely for some time. In fact, ESPN reported back in January how Manu Fajardo, Betis's sporting director, played a key role in the signing of Alvaro Fidalgo, another Mexican player who ended up in Sevilla.

Meanwhile, those around Vargas are taking the wait in stride. They know that even though his playing time hasn't been as plentiful as he would have liked, Simeone is a coach under whom the player himself feels he's grown a great deal in recent months. There's genuine gratitude toward the Argentine coach, and the mindset is clear: accept whatever decision the club makes.

For now, none of the three LaLiga options has anything locked in. Atletico is taking its time to decide whether the best path for its young midfielder's development is to stay at the Metropolitano and fight for a spot, or to go out on loan in search of the starting role that, in Madrid right now, isn't guaranteed.