Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 8:55 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 20:59

Barcelona and Atlético Madrid are in talks about the return of Antoine Griezmann to the club from the capital, Fabrizio Romano assures Tuesday evening. The attacker is under contract with Barcelona for another three years, but it is an open secret that the club is open to a departure due to his high salary. Atlético and in particular trainer Diego Simeone would like to bring Griezmann back. Romano considers a lease with a mandatory purchase option the most realistic.

Tuesday afternoon made ESPN already reported the possible return of Griezmann at the Wanda Metropolitano. The sports channel wrote that Griezmann could be involved in a barter deal that would bring João Félix to Barcelona. But according to Romano, no other player will be involved in the negotiations: it is simply about Griezmann’s return to Atletico. It will be a race against time to complete the transfer on time, but according to Romano, the talks are moving in the right direction.

Griezmann already played for Atlético between 2014 and 2019, after he came over from Real Sociedad. Employed by los Colchoneros the Frenchman scored 133 goals in 257 official matches. He won the Europa League (2018) with the club and reached the final of the Champions League (2016). He was signed by Barcelona for a fee of 120 million euros, for which Griezmann scored 35 goals in 102 official appearances.

Atlético has been working on the arrival of Griezmann for some time. On July 26, wrote Sport already that the reigning champions of Spain are ‘willing to wait’: Atlético was aware of the striker’s desire to return to Madrid and counted on Barcelona also eventually cooperating with a transfer, which in recent weeks didn’t happen. They preferred a foreign transfer for Griezmann. Now that deadline day has arrived, Atlético seems to be the only option left.

The thirty-year-old striker was coveted by clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, who were eager to take him over on a rental basis, were willing to pay his full salary and wanted to include an option to buy, which will leave him permanently off the payroll in a year’s time. at Barcelona. The LaLiga superpower would have liked to negotiate with one of these clubs, but Griezmann had only one wish: a return to Madrid, partly because he still has a good relationship with Simeone. In the meantime, Barcelona is working on the arrival of Luuk de Jong, possibly as a replacement for Griezmann.