Miguel Angel Moya has joined Real Sociedad.
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya has joined Real Sociedad in a permanent emergency move, leaving coach Diego Simeone with just 19 senior players.
Former Getafe player Moya, 33, had spent the last three seasons at Atletico as back-up to first choice Jan Oblak, with his most recent game coming in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals defeat to Sevilla.
Simeone had already seen midfielder Augusto Fernandez leave for Beijing Renhe and Luciano Vietto join Valencia on loan in January, while Yannick Carrasco and Nico Gaitan left for Dalian Yifang this week.
Atletico now have just 17 outfield players and two goalkeepers including Axel Werner, who has never played a senior game in Europe, for the remainder of the campaign.
Sociedad confirmed that Moya was arriving as a replacement for the injured Geronimo Rulli.
The Liga authorities reportedly allowed the signing outside the transfer window due to Athletic Bilbao having paid defender Inigo Martinez's release clause so late in January.
"Real Sociedad and Atletico de Madrid confirm that they have reached to a preliminary agreement for the transfer of Miguel Angel Moya," a Sociedad statement said.
"In turn, the txuri-urdin club has reached an agreement with the goalkeeper until 30 June 2020."
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's La Liga game at home to Leganes, Simeone said the small squad was not a problem.
"The team is good -- it is a small group, yes, but very competitive," he said. "For sure this will give us a chance for the majority to get playing time.
"We want to share that out in the best way so that the team remains strong."
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan
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Source: espn.co.uk