Griezmann to Atletico Madrid transfer done, Barcelona announce

Antoine Griezmann has completed his permanent move back to Atletico Madrid from Barcelona, Camp Nou president Joan Laporta has announced.

Atleti will only pay €20 million - half of the agreed buyout fee in the loan deal between the clubs – but Barca could receive another €4m in bonuses should he hit certain targets.

It brings to an end a frustrating saga for both clubs and will relieve a major financial burden on the cash-strapped Catalan side.

“It's done and it's a good deal - we'll receive €20m fixed and €4m in add ons, plus the difference if Atletico sell him for up to €40m,” Laporta said in comments relayed by Fabrizio Romano.

“If Griezmann came back, we had to pay his €36m salary and it'd have been a drama.”

Griezmann: A €120m transfer flop

Griezmann initially moved to Barcelona for €120m in 2019 but failed to live up to his transfer fee. In 2021, he was shunted back to Atleti on a two-year loan, which had an obligation for the capital side to buy if the forward played 45 minutes or more in a certain percentage of their matches.

Although Atleti wanted to sign Griezmann on a permanent deal, they did not want to do so at €40m, so there was the farcical situation this season of Diego Simeone fielding the player for the final half hour of virtually every encounter.

With this deal in place, however, Griezmann can begin to show his worth to Atletico Madrid once again while Barcelona do not have to worry about him returning to the club with his sizeable wage packet.

Nevertheless, the €100m loss on Griezmann via his transfer fee alone is another sore reminder of the mismanagement that Barcelona endured for an ugly period of Josep Maria Bartomeu’s presidency, with Atletico Madrid the major benefactors in this case.