Antoine Griezmann, who won the 2018 World Cup as the tournament’s best player, has seen his career dwindle in the intervening years.After trying to regain his form at Barcelona,the Frenchmanreturned on loan to Atletico Madrid, where he scored eight times and assisted on seven more throughout the previous season.
The fact that Barcelona was prepared to strengthen title rivals Atletico in order to get a trade done shows how happy they were to be rid of Griezmann and his overly expensive contract last summer.In 2021-22, Griezmann started 24 games for his La Liga team, andtheColchonerostook up the option to extend his stay for another season.
However, this termhe has had a hard time breaking into the starting lineup against competition from players likeJoao Felix, Angel Correa, and Matheus Cunha.In addition, the new agreement wassubject to certain conditions.
How Atletico Madrid intend to avoid signing Antoine Griezmann fromBarcelona
The Spanish powerhouses had anticipated collecting €40 million when Griezmann’s loan to Atletico Madrid was turned into a permanent transfer next summer. However, there is a major snag with this scenario.
Whether or not the experiencedstrikerplays 30 minutes or more in more than 80 percentof the matches in which he is eligible for selection during his loan stay will determine if Atleti exercisetheir option to purchase him permanently at the conclusion of this season.
So, what exactly has Diego Simeone done to cheat Barcelona out of some of their hard-earned cash?The manager of Atletico Madridputs Griezmann on the bench and doesn’t use him until after the hour mark, in the 60thminute. In fact, the Blaugrana-owned ace has featured in just 109 minutes in four La Liga matchesso far.
He had earned 28 minutes in each ofthe league opener against Getafe andVillarreal,followed by 26 minutes against Valencia, and another 27 in the most recent game vs Real Sociedad.TheCamp Nou’s management likely aren’t thrilled with Atleti’s sneaky way out of paying them, but they have had to be inventive in order to find their way around a sea of financial problems.
