Atlético made public at 2:30 p.m. this Monday afternoon the signing of Antoine Griezmann. He did so through a brief statement that said the following: "Atlético de Madrid and FC Barcelona have reached an agreement for the transfer of Antoine Griezmann, who since the summer of 2021 and to date had played for our club on loan by the Barça entity. In addition, the French striker has signed a contract that will link him to our entity until June 30, 2026". The colchoneros will pay 20 million to Barça to get the services of a key footballer for Simeone.
The first reaction to the agreement, which had been known since Friday and was confirmed by Barcelona at the members' meeting last Sunday, came from the French striker himself, who posted the tweet on his social networks "Happy to be where I want to be. Thank you everyone. ¡Aúpa Atleti!!", short but significant.
In its statement, Atlético glosses Griezmann's career with the mattress shirt: "In 304 official games as a rojiblanco, Griezmann has distributed 59 assists and scored 144 goals, becoming the fourth highest scorer in our history, surpassing another legend such as José Eulogio Gárate and only two goals from Campos, Atlético's third top scorer".
And he continues: "Ahead of the French player, the athletic legends Escudero with 169 goals and Luis Aragonés with 172 complete the podium of top rojiblancos scorers. Likewise, the Atlético '8' has been proclaimed champion of the Spanish Super Cup in 2014, UEFA Europa League and European Super Cup in 2018".
Griezmann's situation within the mattress entity was resulting in conflict for the club and for Simeone. If an agreement had not been reached for the signing, Atlético would have had to pay 40 million to the Barça club at the end of the season if the Frenchman had played a certain number of minutes. That forced Simeone to dose the Frenchman's game time and the Argentine used to give the Frenchman an outlet at game time.
