soccer
Barcelona and Atlético Madrid agree permanent Antoine Griezmann deal
Atlético Madrid to pay Barcelona just €20m ($19.68m) to turn French forward Antoine Griezmann’s loan deal into a permanent transfer
Barcelona have reportedly agreed a cut-price deal with Atlético Madrid for the permanent transfer of French attacker Antoine Grizemann, who had been on loan at Diego Simeone’s side.
After Griezmann had been deemed surplus to requirements at Camp Nou – in both a footballing and financial sense – he returned to his former club on a somewhat bizarre two-year loan at the start of the 2021-22 season. However, Atlético would be forced to make that loan move a permanent one to the tune of €40m ($39.66m) if the forward played a certain number of minutes.
Diego Simeone has used Antoine Griezmann sparingly for Atlético Madrid
In order for the club to get out of paying that figure, which they seemingly couldn’t afford to do, Simeone has been forced to use Griezmann sparingly this term, with the Frenchman featuring for less than half an hour in six of Atleti’s first seven LaLiga fixtures and two of their opening three Champions League games.
But after several weeks of discussions, Barça and Atlético now appear to have agreed a deal that will see Los Colchoneros pay €20m ($19.68m) – less than half of the original fee – to retain Griezmann’s service on a permanent basis until 2026.
Money for Barcelona, a key player for Atlético Madrid
Barcelona get some much-needed money (although not as much as they would have liked), Atlético can use a key player as much as they want and Griezmann will surely get considerably more game time.
The former Real Sociedad attacker was a huge fan favourite in his first spell at the club, in which he netted 133 goals in 257 games in all competitions. If he can replicate that form now that he is back at Estadio Metropolitano for good, the supporters who felt betrayed by his controversial move to Barça in 2019 could still forgive him.