Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes it will be an "important summer" for his club as they look to improve on this season's fourth place finish in La Liga.

Diego Simeone of Atletico de Madrid reacts before the Spanish La Liga football match between Elche CF and Atletico de Madrid in Elche, Spain, May 14, 2023. (Str/Xinhua)

Atletico's 2-0 win over Real Sociedad saw Simeone's side finish with 76 points, but they were 19 behind champions Real Madrid and five behind Girona, who finished third.

Atletico also lost in the quarterfinal of the Champions League and the semifinal of Copa del Rey, ending another season without a trophy.

Some think that the result is not good enough for a club that now has the second-highest wage ceiling in Spain (50 percent higher than FC Barcelona), and Simone admitted the season had "decisive moments in which we could not make that step forwards."

Although Simeone did not discuss possible departures from the club, Atletico will remodel a lot this summer with Gabriel Paulista, Stefan Savic, Mario Hermoso and Memphis Depay all set to leave before a similar number of arrivals.

"We have spoken, we have talked, and we have looked at the route we know we have to follow," explained the coach, who added that the club would "have to work" on new signings in what will be "an important summer."

"We have to continue generating what is happening at Atletico, to make it normal for the club to go into the Champions League. We have those demands in front of us, and we have to keep aiming higher," Simeone concluded. 

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