Diego Simeone is not giving up on Antoine Griezmann and is willing to spend some big bucks to get the French national team star back to his 2018 level. Antoine Griezmann has largely disappointed post World Cup 2018, with a poor stint at Barcelona and nothing to write home about at Atletico Madrid.
Last season the 31-year-old scored only 3 goals in 26 matches. This season Griezmann only played one 90-minute match in LaLiga against Real Madrid and managed an assist. Still, the French star has scored 2 goals in 7 matches and is set to have a higher output than last season.
The reason behind being used as a super sub role is due to a clause in the loan agreement between the two clubs, that if the French star played 45 minutes or more in 50% of the matches then that would mean Barcelona would be owed €40 million in transfer fee at first contact. According to ESPN, Griezmann and Atletico Madrid are set to make the move permanent as Barcelona will accept a lesser transfer offer.
Atletico Madrid set to sign Antoine Griezmann permanently
According to the ESPN report, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are set to agree on a fee in the range of €20 million. The two clubs negotiated for half the value as Atletico Madrid had communicated to Simeone to use Griezmann sparingly as a way to leverage a negotiation with the Catalan giants.
Antoine Griezmann of Atletico de Madrid (Photo by Lukas Schulze/Getty Images)
Simeone stated “You’ve known me for 10 years as a coach. I’m a club man and I always will be,” at the moment he was asked about the use of Griezmann. Barcelona is keen to unload the French forward’s salary off of their books officially after he cost the club €120 million in 2019.
