Antoine Griezmann negotiated in writing and in secret last March, while Atlético de Madrid played the season, paying 14 million euros in commissions for his signing with Barcelona. The then rojiblanco player exchanged a series of emails, to whose content EL MUNDO has had access, in which he not only approached his march to the Barça team, but also what he had to pay to his advisors, mostly family members, and to a key mediator

As he has been able to prove this newspaper, his personal lawyer, Sevan Karian , sent him a written proposal in this regard, with a copy to his father Allan and his sister Maud . In this email, the amounts and the people to whom a percentage had to be paid were set for helping him sign for Barça, an end that already then, based on the content of the communications, was closed.

Despite the fact that at that time the player had a valid contract with the rojiblanco team, he closed his contract with Barcelona without the previous mandatory contacts between both clubs. Thus, Griezmann hid at all times the Atletico de Madrid the agreement that had closed in the middle of the season and waited to make it official when it ended and its clause dropped from 200 to 120 million, from July 1.

E-mails reflecting the conversations between the parties addressed the payment of four large lots of commissions. The first was assigned to Griezmann's sister and agent, and his father. Maud had replaced Iñaki Ibáñez , the agent with whom the French made his contracts in the Royal Society, his signing for Atlético and the renovations as rojiblanco until the possibility of going to Barcelona appeared. Then, Griezmann left him unilaterally, despite the existence of a contract between them. The dispute may end in court.

The second of the lots was reserved to the family's own trusted lawyer, the referred Karian. The third, to a French commission agent who had already participated in the negotiations that took place the previous year; and the fourth and final batch, strikingly the most important of all and amounting to seven million euros, was for a Barcelona lawyer with whom the player has woven a close personal relationship and that was key in his new approach to Barcelona, After saying no to the Catalans a year ago. It is the key mediator in the operation.

As this newspaper has been able to know, the distribution of the percentages ended up causing, in the same month that Atlético played its survival in Europe against Juventus and the League against Barcelona, ​​a bitter dispute between the members of the environment of the player for The distribution of money. These disagreements led, in the first place, to the fact that the French commission agent ended up being completely out of the operation, by decision of the family, which is why he decided to take revenge by surfacing the emails.

This material has ended up in the hands of Atlético, which has in its possession a powerful weapon with which it studies whether it takes legal action against the footballer, after having denounced Barcelona before the Federation. Interestingly, this email is not among the information provided, which is limited to the contract that Griezmann had with Atlético and press clippings referring to the negotiations.

The judge investigating the case, Juantxo Landaberea , a specialist in Sports Law of recognized prestige, proposes in its resolution to the Competition Committee, advanced by this newspaper, a penalty of 300 euros or a closed-door match at the Camp Nou, when estimating ridiculous the economic fine and understand that there is basis for the claim of the red and white club. Connoisseurs of the proposal both teams, it is planned that within the margin of the next two weeks the body chaired by the Single Competition Judge, Carmen Pérez , will address the case. Although it is FIFA that prosecutes this type of conflict between clubs, being two attached to the same national federation, delegated to the body chaired by Luis Rubiales .

Atlético assumes that the negotiations began before the clause was lowered and, therefore, claims the club and the player the difference between the 200 and 120 million paid, that is, 80. The courts are an option that He has not ruled out.

The soccer player's sister opposed the cast raised in the first instance by Karian and wanted her lot to be the biggest. His was the decision to leave out some of the intermediaries. The Griezmann family tried to add the commissions to the contract with Barça. However, and as it would have been reflected in emails, the Barca club had already announced that it was not willing to pay one euro more than the previous year and referred to the agreement at the time, so the Griezmann left tracks of their negotiation but without charging bites.

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  • Atlético de Madrid
  • Real society
  • Luis Rubiales
  • FIFA
  • Europe
  • Antoine Griezmann

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