It’s finally over to play 30 minutes per match, for Antoine Griezmann. Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona formalized on Monday the final transfer of the French striker Antoine Griezmann until 2026 with the Colchoneros, where he has been on loan since the summer of 2021, in exchange for 20 M EUR.
The end of a soap opera that has been going on since this summer. Plunged into the heart of a contractual imbroglio which pitted the Catalan club once morest the Madrid club, the French world champion has seen his playing time limited to just half an hour per game since the start of the season.
The reason ? A clause in his loan deal which stated that if ‘Grizou’ played more than 45 minutes in 50% or more of Atlético’s matches between July 2021 and June 2023, the Rojiblancos would be forced to buy the player for €40m EUR.
A reduced salary
A sum well above the current value of the 31-year-old player, who has pushed his coach Diego Simeone to use him sparingly since the start of the season.
In the end, the two clubs agreed on a permanent transfer of EUR 20m (+ EUR 4m in variables), according to figures confirmed by Blaugrana president Joan Laporta during the club’s general assembly on Sunday. .
“In addition, if Atlético were to sell him, they would pay us the difference to reach the 40 million euros, which was the figure initially stipulated in the operation”said Laporta.
Griezmann has therefore committed until 2026 with Atlético, with a salary reduced to 8 M EUR net annually (compared to 12 currently) according to the press.
It is therefore in his favorite club that Griezmann will stay, where he revealed himself to the face of the world between 2014 and 2019, until reaching the final of the Champions League (2016) and winning the Europa League. (2018).
In the summer of 2019, a year following winning the World Cup with France in Russia and following announcing that he was staying at Atlético in a documentary entitled “The Decision”, Griezmann had nevertheless chosen to leave for FC Barcelona .
He then became one of the most expensive recruits in the history of the Catalan club (120 M EUR). But his two disappointing years in the Blaugrana jersey prompted him to return to Atlético in the summer of 2021.
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On Saturday, Antoine Griezmann started for the second consecutive time this season, and helped Colchoneros win 2-1 once morest Girona with an assist for Angel Correa in the 5th minute.
