While some people believe that Barcelona and Antoine Griezmann had reached a deal for the Frenchman to join the Blaugrana side in March, the details of the ongoing negotiation between the current La Liga champions and Los Colchoneros have surfaced today, with French newspaper L'Equipe being shedding light on the move.
According to the French publication, the deal will not be announced until July, given that both teams will benefit from delaying the deal to avoid the transfer from surfacing on their 2018-19 financial statements.
Added to that, Barcelona will see the player's buyout clause coming down from $200M to $120M. In order to lower that fee, Atlético wants to see a Barcelona player included in the deal, with Nelson Semedo being tipped as the preferred option for Diego Simeone.
While the Blaugrana side would prefer to see a cash deal being agreed with Atlético, the player's agreement with the La Liga winners is already in place. Griezmann will quickly escalate to one of the best-paid players in Barcelona's squad, which will see him earn over $17M yearly for the next five seasons. Curiously, Griezmann will be taking a paycut to join Los Blaugranas, since he earned over $23M yearly with Los Colchoneros.
Earlier this month, Griezmann admitted that his future will be sorted out in the early days of July. Will there be another turn to his future in the summer transfer window?
