Barça prepares a lawsuit against Atletico over the handling of the Antoine Griezmann buy-out clause

FC Barcelona could take legal action against Atletico Madrid over the club's handling of the loan of Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, who has been subbed-in in the 60th minute so as not to play the minimum number of minutes required to trigger the 40 million buyout clause at the end of the season.

According to the club, it has already communicated to Atleti that with his year on loan, which was last season, the player already fulfilled the necessary condition for the payment of the 40 million, as he played more than 50% of the time of the matches in the season he was on loan. Specifically, he reached 80%.

The contract specified that the loan was for one year with a possible extension for a further year. This condition for the second year was executed if in the first year he played more than 50% of the minutes in the matches in which he was available.

Therefore, in the first year, Griezmann already more than fulfilled this condition.

Now, according to the club's version, it is irrelevant to Barça whether Griezmann plays from the 60th, 50th or 90th minute.

The aforementioned condition was just for the year he was on loan, which was last season.

The loan was for one year, not two seasons.

Afterwards, there was an extension that was to be triggered based on certain parameters.

The club's legal services are preparing the corresponding lawsuit to enforce the payment of 40 million, given Atlético's refusal in this interpretation since, according to Barça, the time to play more than 50% only corresponds to the first year of the loan.

FC Barcelona communicated that having fulfilled the condition of the first year, the player was already for all intents and purposes an Atlético player.