On the final day of last season, after Atletico Madrid had secured third place in the Primera Division with a scoreless stalemate against Granada, Diego Simeone was asked how he'd grade his club's campaign.

"Top marks for me," the Argentinian told reporters, hardly hesitating while hailing his players' efforts as "incredible."

It was a comment that raised a few eyebrows. Earlier that day, Atleti had participated in perhaps the most horrifically dreary 90 minutes of the season at Los Carmenes, an outing coming at the end of a four-game winless run that concluded a 12-month stretch in which the raw facts pointed toward regression: from first to third; from champions to title-race bystanders; from European finalists to quarter-finalists.

Top marks? Really?

Yet progress is not always evident or defined by such measures; it's not always linear or totally logical. Across town at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid finished one place higher in the league than they had the previous season but were seen to have gone backward. Conversely, over in England, Arsenal won fewer points in 2014-15 than they had in 2013-14 but were widely praised for taking steps forward.

Evaluating progression, you see, can be problematic, and Atletico Madrid are an interesting case in point. Despite all the basic indications suggesting the team slipped or plateaued, Simeone spoke all season of growth, progression and the project unfolding at the Vicente Calderon.

Interestingly, in doing so, he highlighted that there's a difference between team and club, and how the sense of progress for each isn't necessarily synchronous.

As such, Atleti, despite the leaner year in the wins column, did make headway: The third-place finish that secured Champions League football for another season has prolonged the club's upward trajectory in a broader sense, sustaining the club's growth and putting it in a far better position this summer than it was last.

"It's not like last year," said Simeone in a recent interview with AS (h/t Football Espana). "Ten players left, five of them regulars. This year we're not going to lose five regulars. We'll be closer to enhancing the good we did last year."

Financial realities, of course, still mean that departures are unavoidable at the Calderon, but the manner of them this summer has been markedly different to last. This time last year, the exits of Diego Costa, Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis and David Villa were unwanted, major blows. This summer's crop is different.

Atleti and Simeone were content to wave goodbye to Mario Mandzukic and Miranda. Additionally, the sale of Toby Alderweireld won't be significantly felt, because he hadn't been present in Madrid anyway. Only the loss of Arda Turan to Barcelona has hurt Los Colchoneros, and the club has already taken substantial steps to soften that blow.

The signing of Jackson Martinez from Porto for €35 million is a real statement of intent from Atleti. Strong, powerful, explosive, prolific and South-American born, the Colombian continues the club's lineage of such strikers that has featured Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and Costa. Significantly, Martinez allows Atleti to recapture a large portion of their Costa-led essence, rendering the awkward-fitting Mandzukic a stopgap rather than the solution.

Joined by Luciano Vietto and set to be accompanied by Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and possibly Angel Correa, Martinez has been anointed the leader of what Marca has dubbed "The Jackson Five," the Madrid-based daily also labelling the first four as "Simeone's gunners."

It's a strike force that looks lethal, capable of cracking the ton in front of goal collectively next season. What's more, it's a strike force carrying a €93 million price tag—or €113 million, if you want to include the newly-acquired winger Yannick Carrasco. Not bad for a club that has rarely ventured into such a price range, except for the purchase of the third-party-assisted Falcao.

Furthermore, Atleti's summer haul thus far represents a massive leap in the quality of the club's transfer business—one of the few areas that's remained unconvincing during Simeone's tenure, as we explained here at Bleacher Report in March:

<< In his first summer-transfer window at the club, Simeone's Atletico signed Cristian Rodriguez, Cata Diaz and Emre Belozoglu. Next time around, Atleti signed Villa, Dani Aranzubia, Toby Alderweireld, Josuha Guilavogui, Leo Baptistao and Jose Gimenez. The following winter, Diego Ribas and Jose Sosa came in.

How many of that group are either, (a) currently playing a significant role for Atletico or, (b) still at the club at all?

In 2014-15, the club has made some great signings, but it's still been very hit and miss. At one end of the spectrum are Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Greizmann; at the other are Alessio Cerci and Raul Jimenez.

Somewhere in between are Jan Oblak, Guilherme Siqueira and Jesus Gamez. >>

You see? Progress.

Just as indicative of Atletico Madrid's growth, though, is the club's retention of its "spine," as Koke labelled it this week in an interview with AS. In this case the term represents the team's established core rather than players occupying positions down a central line from goalkeeper to striker.

Koke forms part of that spine. Diego Godin, Griezmann, Juanfran, Tiago and Gabi do too, and Jan Oblak and Jose Gimenez are rapidly joining them. Notably, Atleti's ability to keep that spine in place has been tested as well; Koke and Griezmann have drawn strong interest from the continent's heavyweights. But there they still are, at the Vicente Calderon.

Again, progress.

Evidently, maintaining a place in Europe's elite competition has helped Atleti both lure and retain talent, with the Champions League's prestige and broadcast revenue critical aspects in the club's growing assault on Spain's aristocracy of Real Madrid and Barcelona. But, as previously outlined, there are other dimensions to Atletico's rise that give further encouragement for the potential of the club's project:

<< Though the project has been dogged by setbacks, Atletico's new 69,000-seat La Peineta stadium is currently due to be completed by 2017, meaning the club is in its final years at the outdated Vicente Calderon.

The looming move to the new venue has seen Atletico secure a stadium-management deal with CenterplateISG—a company that's worked on Super Bowls, World Series and plethora of new arenas including London's Wembley—to help boost matchday revenue.

Additionally, in January, Atletico announced that Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group had purchased a 20 percent stake in the club for £34.5 million, a move designed to expand the club's global brand. >>

So can this upward trajectory translate into another Spanish title for Los Colchoneros? A charge at what remains the club's final frontier: the European Cup? It's possible.

The distance between themselves and the country's big two, of course, is still enormous in a commercial sense. According to the Deloitte Football Money League, Atetico's annual revenue of €169.9 million is roughly a quarter of that of Real Madrid and Barcelona. But the gap is slowly closing; ground is being made, even if it is slow going.

There's something else, though, too: Spain's pair of heavyweights, on the field, are closing in on what you might term their ceiling.

In recent seasons, both Real Madrid and Barcelona have cracked the 100-point barrier in La Liga, compiling campaigns that are almost as close to perfect as can be expected and hoarding vast quantities of the continent's finest talent in the process. Thus, the rate at which they're pulling away is slowing, meaning Atleti can only get closer if they're able to prolong their rise.

There is still considerable work to do, and in an immediate sense Atleti still need further reinforcements at left-back, centre-back and central midfield. But even so, undeniable gains have been made by Atleti, both this summer and across the past 12 months.

It means in a year's time, Simeone's definition of "top marks" could look very, very different.

From Bleacher report.

I enjoy that they are making progress, but until they break into the marketing it'll be near impossible for them to even be close to Barca/RM.

Their job is also harder because they operate in the same space as RM, it's not like they are across the country. Not to be a pessimist, but they would have to have sustained success at this level for a decade or more to break into that club.

All that being said, baby steps.

Good article. Athletico continues to impress me. And in the real-athletico derby I always vote for the underdogs. Obviously they are no where near Barca and Real but at the same time they're far above everyone else in la liga except for perhaps Valencia.

They are such a strong defensive team, that they haven't even bought any defensive players yet, and that's quite impressive. I really don't want Madrid/Barca to win La Liga this season and Atletico are obviously strong contenders, especially with this squad.