Monday, July 26, 2021 at 08:31• Dominic Mostert

Atlético Madrid is willing to wait for Antoine Griezmann, writes Sport. The reigning champions of Spain are aware of the striker’s desire to return to Madrid and are counting on Barcelona to eventually cooperate with a transfer. Both clubs have not yet reached an agreement, but Atletico assumes that despair over the ‘Lionel Messi’ situation will only increase in the Camp Nou in the coming weeks.

Barcelona would like to discharge Griezmann, because with his sky-high salary of 34 million euros gross per year, he puts heavy pressure on the budget. The thirty-year-old Frenchman is coveted by clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, who are happy to take him over on a rental basis, are willing to pay his full salary and want to have an option to buy included, which means that he can be permanently removed from the payroll in a year’s time. Barcelona. The LaLiga superpower would have liked to negotiate with one of these clubs, but Griezmann has only one wish: a return to Madrid, where he still has a good relationship with coach Diego Simeone.

Griezmann does not see a switch to another club for the time being. He is willing to give up salary in order to return to Atletico, but Barcelona will not let him leave for an amount ‘below his market value’, according to the sports newspaper. Atlético are betting, however, that Barcelona will ultimately have little choice. Barcelona are trying to free up salary costs to pay for Messi’s contract extension and are therefore making efforts to sell players such as Griezmann, Samuel Umtiti, Miralem Pjanic and Philippe Coutinho.

There was previously talk about involving Saúl Ñíguez in the transfer of Griezmann, but due to the high salary demands of the midfielder, that plan has been canceled. For the time being, Barcelona sees nothing in an ‘exchange deal that does not make sense for the club from a sporting or financial perspective’. But according to Sport Atletico expect Barcelona’s desperation to keep Messi will grow ‘by the day’. The Madrid club is prepared to wait until the last week of the transfer market.

“Atletico is leaking behind the scenes news that the deal is doomed and Simeone has even publicly wished Griezmann success next season at Barcelona. It is all part of the plan to get Barcelona to agree to a financially favorable exchange deal for Atletico or Atlético feels safe in the knowledge that Griezmann only thinks of that club,” writes Sport. However, Barcelona is currently ‘calm’ and is already working on an ’emergency solution’ in case Griezmann stays: an agreement must be reached with the big earners to hand in salary and ‘three to four players’ must leave the club. leave in the coming weeks.