Antoine Griezmann, Atlético de Madrid and the 40 million dollars: a crossroads where he will lose one of the two

Any player whose team will participate in the Qatar World Cup intends to arrive in optimal conditions at the highest event in ecumenical football. Antoine Griezmann is no exception, but the start of this atypical season that will be interrupted in the middle for the dispute of the race in the Middle East finds him in a far from ideal situation in Atlético de Madrid: Relegation to the bench of the substitutes, repudiated by some fans, with the salary in question and without the certainty of continuing to dress the red and white in a week, when the market closes in the main European leagues.

Money was, for a long time, the main conditioning factor with which Atlético struggled. And this is what now complicates the stay of the French. The club from the capital has been juggling to be able to balance its equilibrium and adjust its small but expensive squad (it has only 22 professional tokens) to the salary limits set by the Spanish league.

In that process, management considered letting the attacker go, but Diego Simeone was categorically against. “We hope he stays with us. I appreciate and love it. I hope I can continue in the line I had in the preseason and in this Getafe gameHe signed it on Saturday, on the eve of the match of the second championship date against Villarreal, at the Wanda Metropolitano.

This defense thus formulated by DT has no correlation in fact, since Griezmann was a substitute in the team’s two games. Simeone has chosen Álvaro Morata and Portuguese João Félix as the starting forwards. In both engagements the Frenchman entered the second half and scored a goal against Getafe.

Nonetheless, the colos he does not lose faith in the fifth best scorer in Atlético’s history (142 goals in 295 games) and the 18th in the history of the Spanish league (he has 160 between mattress and Barcelona). His plan is to turn it into a hitch. “Last year he already played that role in some game slots. We see him adaptable because he has vision of the game and technique. He is very complete and knows what we want, ”he praised him.

The player is also committed to staying and adding minutes in the league and Champions League to reach his third World Cup in the standings. In Russia 2018 he was champion and received the Bronze Ball. Today he is not having his best moment in a team that has Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema as exceptional figures. His last goal with the blue shirt, in fact, dates back to 13 November 2021 in the 8-0 victory over Kazakhstan for the penultimate round of the Qualifiers. Since then he has played seven games and in all of them he started with a virgin gluttony.

Those minutes that Griezmann needs and wants at Atlético could be a source of trouble for a club in financial difficulty. Because the length of time the player who was born 31 years ago in Mâcon (72 kilometers north of Lyon) will remain on the pitch this season will determine whether or not he is obliged to shell out 40 million euros.

Barcelona still have the striker’s briefcase, which was loaned out last season and will continue in that condition until the end of the current season. The agreement between the clubs provides a mandatory purchase option after June 30, 2023. To be effective, the player must play more than 50% of the matches for which he is available during the two-year loan. For a match to be considered to have been played, the attacker must be on the pitch for at least 30 minutes.

Last season, excluding the 10 matches in which he was injured and the one missed due to suspension, the Frenchman played at least half an hour in 33 of Atlético’s 40 games (82.5%). In order for the club not to be forced to pay those 40 million euros for him, his participation in the team would have to be drastically reduced. In the first two league games he only played 28 minutes each.

At this crossroads Atlético faces several options: simply accept the disbursement of a sum that is difficult to assume at the moment for a player who has not played since his return last year (he scored 8 goals and gave 7 assists last season), negotiate a reduction with Barcelona , Condition Simeone to demote him and thus avoid the obligatory redemption option or to get rid of it in this market, which would also allow him to lighten his paycheck. Neither of the latter two would satisfy the coach.

For now, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, Atlético’s chief executive and lieutenant of president Enrique Cerezo, met the striker a few days ago. During the conclave he asked him to accept a 30% reduction in his income, as he did with the other team members who are at the top of the salary pyramid. Last year, when he came on loan from Barcelona, ​​he did so by accepting a 50% salary pruning. We will have to see what he will answer this time.

Beyond Simeone’s support, a Griezmann exit cannot be ruled out. In recent weeks, Atlético have been firm in rejecting proposals for three other strikers in their squad (João Félix, Morata and the Brazilian Matheus Cunha) and do not want Ángel Correa to leave. The only one that is in sight is the French. The coin will remain in the air until 23:59 on August 31, when the repo market closes. All this less than 90 days before the start of the World Cup.