September 06, (THEWILL) – French forward Antoine Griezmann was faced with a decision to remain at Catalan side Barcelona after being put up for a return to La Liga champions Atletico Madrid so that Barca could cut their wage bill or accept huge salary cuts to make that switch possible. He chose the latter.
The 30-year-old agreed to halve his pay to facilitate his transfer back to Los Rojiblancos in a deadline day move on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy for around £34m.
It almost failed to scale through as the financials posed an almost impregnable impediment. Atletico were unwilling to commit to accepting Griezmann on his operational wages, which were thought to sit at over £300,000-a-week last season.
Griezmann therefore decided to get the move over the line before the transfer window shut down by agreeing to cut his wages by around 40%. It was a decision that Atletico welcomed as it brought the forward’s wages to a level that Atletico could bear.
In the resolution of the deal, Barcelona refrained from including a loan fee, allowing Atletico to bring their former superstar back to the Wanda Metropolitano without incurring any extra charges. Atletico also agreed to a flexible obligation to sign Griezmann permanently.
The implication is that although the deal was for an initial one-year loan, Atletico had the option to extend that by a further year if they pay Barcelona a set fee next summer.
Back in the side where he was a regular top performer, he can rediscover some of that shine away from the spotlight at Camp Nou by focusing solely on his football and continue his search for a La Liga title which has somehow evaded him thus far and end what has become known as “the Griezmann curse”.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
