Barcelona have long been linked with Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann and if multiple reports are to be believed, the France international was set to become the Catalan club’s player in the summer transfer window.
Having arrived at the Spanish capital club from Real Sociedad in 2014, the 27-year-old has been in fine form for Atletico. His impressive displays for Diego Simeone’s side saw him attract interest from Manchester United last summer.
However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to uphold their FIFA transfer embargo meant Atletico were not allowed to register players last summer. Thus, Griezmann rejected an opportunity to join Jose Mourinho’s side and signed a new deal.
AS now reports Atletico are hoping to hand the Frenchman another deal. The Rojiblancos have put ‘all the meat on the grill’ to make sure that they can block their star player from joining Barcelona.
Atletico played their last match of the season against Eibar at the weekend. A section of the home supporters greeted Griezmann with whistles, until Diego Godin intervened and urged the fans to get behind the player.
The sources claim that the player had made a decision to stay at the club. However, the whistles from the stands have raised some doubts over his future at Atletico.
The attacker has a release clause of €200m in his contract and the price will drop down to €100m from July. 20 percent of the transfer fee from his sale will go to his former club, Sociedad.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu is ready to pay €120m to Atletico in order to convince them to let their star player join them before he travels with the France squad for the 2018 World Cup.
Otherwise, they’ll have to wait until July. this path is not preferable both the player and Barcelona.
It’s all turning into a bit of a mess, but one thing seems sure: Atletico aren’t simply accepting their beaten.
