Football: Antoine Griezmann, in disgrace at Barça, returns to Atlético de Madrid
French striker Antoine Griezmann, here wearing the Atlético de Madrid shirt, November 6, 2018. AP - Manu Fernandez
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
5 mins
At the end of an incredible scenario, on the night of Tuesday August 31 to September 1, when the summer transfer window was closing, Antoine Griezmann was loaned for one year with an option to purchase by FC Barcelona from Atlético de Madrid .
The French striker, who has never found his place in Catalonia, leaves Barça and returns to the Colchoneros, where he played from 2014 to 2019.
Advertising
Read more
This summer transfer window ended with an incredible set of musical chairs.
Within seconds, the assembly with four teams and three players almost collapsed.
It all started in the early evening on Tuesday when the rumor sending Antoine Griezmann from FC Barcelona to Atlético de Madrid started to gain momentum.
This was well founded.
A loan concluded within seconds of the market closing
However, as the midnight cut-off time approached, an imbroglio developed. To attract Antoine Griezmann, Atlético first had to send Saul Niguez on loan to England, to Chelsea. And Barça, for its part, awaited the departure of Griezmann to be able to recruit the Dutchman Luuk de Jong from Sevilla FC. At midnight, no movement was formalized, raising fears of a fiasco for all.
The minutes then ticked off, leaving a heavy suspense hovering in England and Spain.
And finally, the long-awaited news fell: first announced as failed, the loan of Saul Niguez to Chelsea could well have been made.
The Blues made it official at 12:45 a.m.
This loan released that of Antoine Griezmann at Atlético, announced for good at 1:22.
Later, Barcelona should be able to present Luuk de Jong.
It came close to it;
according to some sources in the English press, the loan of the French striker was recorded at ... 23h59.
🔴⚪ #BienvenidoGriezmann
🇫🇷 @AntoGriezmann volverá a vestir nuestra camiseta tras el acuerdo alcanzado entre nuestro club y el Barcelona para su cesión.
Welcome, Antoine!
🤙
➡ https://t.co/NZcnFfJqp8 pic.twitter.com/nFsJIxZgSy
- Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) August 31, 2021
Griezmann-Barça, a financial and sporting flop
Barca's attack line has changed a lot in a few weeks.
After Lionel Messi,
free party for PSG
, Antoine Griezmann's turn to set sail.
The 2018 world champion leaves a financially drained Barça.
In mid-August, President Joan Laporta confirmed that the club's debt stands at 1.173 billion euros.
This hole in the boxes led to the departure of Messi, which could not be extended despite a common desire. Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, they have accepted salary cuts to allow Barcelona to finally register Sergio Agüero in its workforce. The striker, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia, however, arrived without transfer compensation this summer. This is to say the state of Barça's finances.
The departure of Antoine Griezmann, whose salary is estimated at more than 21 million euros per year, also responds to these complicated circumstances.
He also signs
the bitter failure that was his recruitment
.
In July 2019, Barça offered the scorer by paying the 120 million euros of his release clause to Atlético de Madrid, where he had been playing since 2014. With Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, the team's striker de France must then form a formidable trident within one of the biggest clubs in the world, able to satisfy its European ambitions.
Will he be able to relaunch himself in his old stronghold?
But the marriage didn't work. Griezmann has never been in tune in this team. No obvious complicity has emerged with Suarez and Messi. With 15 goals and 4 assists in 48 games during the 2019-2020 season, he did not convince. The 2020-2021 financial year was a little more successful (20 goals and 13 assists in 51 matches), but it was very pale compared to the sporting rout of FC Barcelona, far from its level of a few years ago. years.
By returning to Atlético, Antoine Griezmann reconnects with Diego Simeone.
The Argentine coach had found the formula and the game to sublimate the Blue, untenable during his five seasons in the capital (133 goals and 50 assists in 257 appearances).
It remains to be seen whether the magic will work again and whether Matelassiers supporters will forgive their former darling for leaving for Barcelona two years ago.
At 30, the striker is expected to rebound.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Soccer
Spain
France