Uruguayan midfielder Sanabria heading to Atletico Madrid Transfer Market The Nacional starlet to join next season

The wait is over. The young Uruguayan midfielder Juan Manuel Sanabria will be joining Europa League champions Atletico Madrid this upcoming season, although it is still unknown whether he will be part of the first team.

Atletico and Uruguayan side Nacional reached an agreement at the end of 2016 when the footballer was only 16, but amid the FIFA ban the Spanish side had incurred for signing underage players, the arrangement was made for Sanabria to come once he had turned 18.

The agile left-footer born in Florida (Uruguay) has the ability to play across all midfield positions and has been a mainstay of his national's youth teams, for whom he captained the Under-17 squad and now plays for the Under-20s.

Despite his youth, Sanabria had stirred the interest of many mayor European teams such as Liverpool and Barcelona, but Atletico, taking advantage of an existing preferential deal with Nacional, were able to snag him.

The Colchoneros will want to manage the midfielder's progression with caution due to the fact that similar signings of young South American players, such as Caio Henrique and Nicolas Schiappacasse, have not yet yielded the expected results.