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Atletico Madrid have confirmed the permanent signing of Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona, with the forward signing a deal that runs through until June 2026.
Griezmann returned to Atletico on a two-year loan deal at the start of last season after a couple of relatively underwhelming campaigns at Camp Nou.
Diego Simeone’s side reportedly had an obligation to pay Barcelona €40million if Griezmann played a certain number of minutes, which has restricted his playing time this term.
The France international has appeared in all eight of his side’s LaLiga games, but he has played 30 minutes or under in six of those contests.
However, on Monday, Atletico announced on their official website that an agreement has been reached for Griezmann to officially become their player again.
Barcelona sporting director Mateu Alemany said on Sunday that Atleti would pay just under €20m for the 31-year-old.
Griezmann is into his seventh season as an Atletico player across two spells and has made 403 appearances for the club, scoring 144 times in all competitions.
According to Spanish football reporter Guillem Balague, there was a clause in Griezmann’s loan contract that would oblige Atletico to buy the forward for 40m euros should he play more than 45 minutes in more than 50% of their games.
In response, Atletico boss Diego Simeone has used Griezmann as a substitute after 60 minutes in eight of his 11 appearances this season to ensure that clause was not triggered.
Griezmann could make his first appearance back as a permanent Atletico Madrid player against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The 2018 World Cup winner is the fourth-highest scorer in the club’s history with 144 goals in 304 appearances over two spells, having initially joined from Real Sociedad in 2014.
He won the Europa League, Spanish Super Cup and Uefa Super Cup during his time at Wanda Metropolitano.
