Barcelona were extremely busy on the last hours of the transfer deadline day, finalizing many shocking deals, to say the least. They offloaded multiple first-team players, the most surprising one being Antoine Griezmann returning to Atletico Madrid.
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The Catalans, during the early hours of the final day, had dealt with the sales of Emerson Royal and Ilaix Moriba to Tottenham Hotspur and RB Leipzig respectively. The two transfers got Barca close to 50 million euros, taking into account the future add-ons to be gained on both players.
While the deals greatly help with the financial crisis currently ongoing at the Nou Camp, it also hinders the depth needed to win titles this season. After already losing Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain, many thought that this will be the season where Antoine Griezmann will come out of the Argentine’s shadow.
But this was far from reality as the French international struggled during the pre-season and was out-performed by Barca’s latest arrival Memphis Depay. This, along with his hefty salary, led to Laporta making the decision to loan Griezmann to Atletico, despite them being their direct rivals for La Liga.
Barcelona return Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid
Griezmann’s shock return to Wanda Metropolitano is an agreement between the two clubs for a season-long loan deal with a mandatory €40 million buy option. While many will point out the obvious fact that 40 million is a lot less than the 120m they paid Atletico back in 2019, it does ensure that Barca profits in the long run especially considering his massive salary.
🚨 𝙇𝘼𝙏𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 !!
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 31, 2021
Agreement between Barça and Atlético Madrid for the loan of @AntoGriezmann
With the Frenchman gone, Barca needed an attacker besides Depay, Martin Braithwaite, and an injured Sergio Aguero. For this purpose, coach Ronald Koeman came up with a short-term solution by loaning Netherland striker Luuk de Jong from Sevilla.
Unfortunately for Barca fans, the 30-year-old’s track record with Sevilla isn’t impressive as the striker has only managed 10 goals in 69 games for his former side.
Was selling Griezmann back to Atletico the right decision?