Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 7:07 PM• Sam Vreeswijk

Antoine Griezmann definitely makes the switch to Atlético Madrid, Spanish media report. The 31-year-old Frenchman has been on loan from Barcelona since the summer of 2021, and would return to Catalonia next summer. That return now seems to have been discontinued. The switch is said to involve a contract of twenty million euros, plus possible bonuses. The deal is expected to be made public in the coming days.

Griezmann has been the subject of discussion several times in recent weeks. The lease with Barcelona appeared to include that Atlético was obliged to withdraw the €40 million purchase option if Griezmann made more than half of the minutes for which he was available. For that reason, the Madrilenians decided not to let him play for more than half an hour per game.

In mid-September it turned out that Barcelona and Atlético had reached an agreement on the clause: L’Equipe reported that the buyout fee in Griezmann’s contract had been reduced from forty to 25 million euros. As a result, the lawsuit that Barcelona threatened to file was dropped. So it now looks like los Rojiblancos that option will be lifted and will take over the rush hour definitively.

Griezmann, who also played for Atlético between 2014 and 2019, missed a penalty in the Champions League against Club Brugge on Tuesday evening (2-0 loss). Incidentally, he did play the full 90 minutes in that game. In total, he has made 303 official appearances for Atlético so far, in which he managed to find the net 144 times. He could now sign a contract with the club from the Spanish capital until mid-2026.