With Simeone taking a pay cut, I think that opened up some sort of salary cap for them, plus they have been pretty good and consistent since he has been there, while his play style is boring and not many likes it, the results show itself. Right now, they had a little trouble last season, so Simeone took a pay cut for now, and I think they are going to spend a bit to get some more players in order to grow and get better again. You can't trust your players forever, sometimes you need to change them and they probably felt like it was time for them to look for another direction which I bet will do them fine.