March 20th, 2022

During the summer transfer window of 2019, AT Madrid’s star Antoine Griezmann made a shock move to Liga rivals FC Barcelona. At the time, Barcelona had paid Griezmann’s buy-out clause of €120 million. However, Atleti argued that negotiations between the player and Barcelona had, in fact, started much earlier before his buy-out fee was lowered from €200 million to the reported €120 million that Barcelona was willing to pay. Atleti was ready to take this issue to the FIFA court, and enraged AT Madrid fans defaced Griezmann’s plaque outside the Wanda Metropolitan. 2 days later, Griezmann was presented at Camp Nou as a new Barcelona player with the number 17. Unlike what Barcelona expected, Griezmann underperformed in his time at Barcelona, recording 22 goals while featuring in 74 games in all competitions. Eventually, Barcelona, who had to let go of Messi due to La Liga’s salary cap issues, announced a shock move of Antoine Griezmann’s return to Atletico Madrid on the deadline day of the 2021 summer transfer window. Barcelona, who were struggling massively in terms of the club’s finance, had been trying to get players off their wage bill by encouraging players to take pay cuts or terminating contracts by “mutual consent.” They planned to target players on FA to minimize the spending on transfers. New signings in the transfer window include Memphis Depay (FA), Eric Garcia (FA), Sergio Aguero (FA), and Luuk De jong (loan with option to buy). Barcelona received €10 million for loan fee and an obligation for ATM to buy clause for €40 million triggered if he is to feature in 30+ games this season. If ATM were to make the transfer permanent, they would be getting a €70 million profit by selling him for €120 million and getting him back for €50 million 3 years later. This exposes Barcelona’s devastating situation where they have no choice but to sell the player at almost half the price of what they bought him for. Barcelona are currently 8th in La Liga, with an important El Clásico scheduled against Ancelloti’s side later this evening.