Axel delighted to join Atletico at their “highest level”

Axel Witsel

is set to join

’s squad as the club unveiled him as their latest signing on Wednesday.

He hit free agency when his deal expired at

following lucrative spells at with Zenit Saint Petersburg and Tianjin Quanjian.

Notwithstanding Hector Herrer’s leave, the Belgian will bolster Atleti’s midfield and Saul Niguez is also returning from loan spell at Chelsea, coming back to Geoffrey Kondogbia and Daniel Wass as a defensive presence in the middle.

Witsel also insisted that this squad is at its “highest quality” that he has ever seen in his career.

"This is a group with a lot of quality,"

Witsel said.

"I could say many players – Koke, Joao [Felix], [Antoine] Griezmann, Yannick [Carrasco], [Matheus] Cunha.

"We have a group with a lot of quality and it is very important because there is a very good mentality, with players who always want to work hard.

"I've been through many clubs and it's true that the fact of being here and having trained with the group, I think it's the group with the highest quality of all my career. There are a lot of internationals, I'm very proud to be here and to be part of this group."

Notwithstanding his age, he pulled off impressive performances last season, missing just five matches for Dortmund last season. However, their season was not fruitful as they were eliminated from the Europa League as well as the Champions League, while ending the

season sitting eight points behind Bayern Munich, who won the title.

The 33-yer-old hailed Diego Simeone, insisting that he is so motivating, helping him play at the highest level.

"It is clear, he is one of the best coaches in the world, it is one of the reasons why I am here,"

he said.

"In recent days we have focused on the physical and I have not been able to talk much with him, but I am very proud to work with him.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, at 33 or 23 you can always learn something, and you can always learn from him.

"I was free and I chose Atletico because I wanted to continue at a high level, I know I don't have ten years left, but I want to take advantage of my last few years to play at the highest level, Atletico is at that level and that's why I'm here."

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