Total war between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over Griezmann situation

Total war between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over Griezmann situation

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The French forward has been coming on in games and not starting them for El Cholo's side

Aiming to save the 40 million euros they said they would pay Barcelona, Atletico Madrid are still advancing with their provocative plan to keep Antoine Griezmann out of Diego Simeone’s line ups.

The Frenchman has played in each of the five La Liga games to date, coming on after the 63rd minute. The latest time this happened was on Saturday in the 4-1 win over Celta Vigo, replacing Morata.

The player has to play at least half of the games for Atletico that he is available for, for the Madrid side to pay the fee agreed.

Barcelona said in a statement they will report Atletico Madrid for not following the agreement. “We haven’t received anything,” said Atletico president Enrique Cerezo. “We don’t know if they’ve done that or not.”

Cerezo did not want to get involved in the argument over whether Barcelona’s interpretation is correct (they say 50% of the games to get the 40 million euros was over one season, while Atletico say that it’s the total of two seasons and he has to play more than 45 minutes for it to count. “Everything is possible in this life,” he added.

With this deal Barcelona thought they had got a fee for a player who did not live up to expectations at Camp Nou. He has a contract with Barcelona until 2024 and if Atletico don’t pay the 40 million he will come back to Barcelona at the end of the season.

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