Antoine Griezmann has informed the Barcelona management that he will only leave the club to join Atletico Madrid. Joan Laporta, the president of the club, has announced that they will listen to offers for the player and several rumours have come to surface. The report about Griezmann’s decision comes from Diario AS.
Griezmann was linked with an ambitious swap deal involving him and Saul Niguez. However, that is now off with the two clubs unable to reach an agreement on the terms needed for the transfer to go through. A swap deal with Juventus involving Paulo Dybala making the switch is also being rumoured, but the probability of the Argentinian joining Sergio Aguero and Messi at Barcelona is very low.
Diego Simeone is open to the idea of working again with Griezmann, a player he managed to get the best out of during their time together. In addition, the fans and management of the club would also like to see the Frenchman back at the Wanda Metropolitano. Griezmann is only willing to leave Camp Nou to reunite with El Cholo, and and he will also be open to reducing his wage demands for the deal.
Barcelona don’t want to move Griezmann on for sporting reasons, but rather for financial reasons since he is one of the few sellable options in the squad. He currently earns £300,000 per week and is one of the highest-paid athletes in the squad. Barcelona will need to reduce their wage bill to register their new signings, as well as Lionel Messi, who is a free agent as of right now.
