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The ending surpassed surrealism. At 11:59 p.m. at night, a minute after the market closed, LaLiga accepted the arrival of the documents of the triple operation that turned Spanish football upside down. At the expense, yes, of economic control. Barcelona got rid of the third most expensive signing in its history,

Antoine Griezmann

, to hand him over to his former home, Atlético de Madrid. To do this, the rojiblancos, to adjust to the salary limit, had to save

Saúl's

salary

, signed by Chelsea at the limit via loan. And the Catalans achieved the transfer of a striker discarded by Sevilla:

Luuk de Jong

. Rocambolesco, but necessary for a Barça in ruin.

Both Barcelona and Atlético struggled in the last hours of the market to finalize the operation. The Barça club was distressed at the possibility of not being able to offer

Ronald Koeman

a forward beyond

Sergio Agüero

, registered thanks to the reduction and salary adjustment of

Sergio Busquets

and

Alba

, and the sales of

Ilaix

to Leipzig (16 + 6),

Emerson

to Tottenham (25) and the loan of

Rey Manaj

to Spezia (300,000 euros). On Monday, the sports management headed by

Mateu Alemany

and

Ramon Planes

already asked Atlético for the loan of

Joao Félix

. The refusal was resounding. Although he opened new possibilities with Griezmann, whose salary distressed the leaders. The loan of the Frenchman was closed for a season, extendable from next year, and with a purchase option of 40 million euros.

When Griezmann signed for Barcelona, ​​he had a net chip of 22 million euros at Atlético. In the Barça club he saw that figure lowered to around 18 million during the first two years, although from this third and until the fifth year the salary increased significantly. All to achieve a minimum annual average of about 21 million net. And therein lay the main setback. After

Messi's

departure

, Griezmann remained the highest paid Barça footballer. And an exit to Atlético required engineering. The key had to be that the rojiblanco club could save Saúl's token (between seven and eight million euros net) or a part of the Frenchman's salary.

Griezmann (35 goals and 17 assists in 102 games as a Barça player) had long been motivated by his return to Atlético.

Even more so with

Simeone

, the coach who has best known how to interpret him sportingly and emotionally alongside

Didier Deschamps

, the French coach.

Simeone also expected even more gunpowder in his attacking zone despite the arrival of Brazilian

Cunha

, actually a second

striker

.

The arrival of Luuk de Jong

While Ronald Koeman, once he saw the insistent irregularity of who should be one of the team's franchise players, he was not going to care too much about his departure.

The Camp Nou whistled at Griezmann last Sunday.

Yes indeed.

As long as another striker replaced him.

Impossible

Joao Félix

and utopian the option of the Spanish international of Leipzig

Dani Olmo

, the Sevillian route was opened from the stem Luuk de Jong (31 years old), express request of the Barça coach, who directed him during his time with the national team.

He only started once with him and scored a goal.

The operation made more sense for Atlético once it accelerated in Saúl's departure to Chelsea, which also included a purchase option.

For Saúl, precisely, an exchange with Griezmann this summer was analyzed.

Griezmann's history at Barcelona is a metaphor for a failure that goes far beyond sports. He arrived in the summer of 2019 because

Bartomeu

, then Barça president, was confident that he would end up being the one who would bring back a team already in clear decline. To do this, he had no problem forgetting that documentary in which the Frenchman rejected his signing a year earlier. He also ignored the old guard of the booth, led by Messi, to bet on the repatriation of

Neymar

. And he opened the checkbook wide until he ended up paying 120 million euros, which was what his freedom letter cost, plus another 15 million, a priori the price of a right of first refusal by

Giménez

and Saúl Ñíguez.

This should calm Atlético for having reached the agreement with Griezmann even with the French contract in force.

Two years after all that, Barça, this time from a

Laporta

devoted fully to the war economy, implored for Atlético to accept his return to the Metropolitan.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • soccer

  • First division

  • FC Barcelona

  • Antoine Griezmann

  • Saúl Ñíguez

  • Atlético de Madrid

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