Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona is back on again, according to Sport.
After a week which saw some doubts brought into the situation, and claims the Frenchman could even stay at Atletico Madrid with a juicy new contract offer, Sport return to the Barcelona slant.
The Catalan newspaper state Griezmann to Barcelona is now in the ‘final stages’.
Barca have a plan and that’s to pay more than the player’s release clause (returning to €100m this summer) to try and keep a reasonable relationship with Atletico.
There’s also a financial plus side to that, because despite Barcelona paying more money they’d want to do so in two instalments, which would help their tricky financial situation.
Another plus for Barcelona in making any transfer a normal one rather than forced through a buyout clause, is that they want to avoid the drama and potential bad PR of seeing club lawyers having to deposit the money with the Spanish league.
There had been worry about Griezmann asking for a salary too high when compared to some other Barcelona players, but Sport saw now the player has agreed to a lower wage which will be added to with bonuses for achievements.
