Atletico Madrid deliver furious response to Barcelona over Antoine Griezmann comments

Posted Saturday, July 06, 2019 by Express.co.uk

Atletico Madrid deliver furious response to Barcelona over Antoine Griezmann comments
Atletico Madrid blasted Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu for his Antoine Griezmann comments (Image: Getty)

ATLETICO MADRID have launched a scathing attack on Josep Maria Bartomeu and told Antoine Griezmann he must return to pre-season training next Sunday after the Barcelona president publicly confirmed talks had taken place regarding the French forward.

Bartomeu said in a press conference on Friday afternoon, which was originally called for Frenkie de Jong’s unveiling, that Barcelona had their first meeting with Atletico on Thursday over the transfer of Griezmann.

The club’s interest in the forward has long been known and they were waiting until July 1 to poach him, after his release clause dropped from £179.2m (€200m) to £107.5m (€120m).

At the end of the season, Griezmann told the club he wanted to leave and they were happy to grant his wish should a club meet his release clause.

It seemed the club had paved the way for the 28-year-old to leave upon giving £113m signing Joao Felix the No 7 shirt, which Griezmann has held since joining in 2014.

The statement goes on to formally accuse The Catalans of agreeing personal terms with Griezmann in March while confirming Barcelona CEO Oscar Grau met with Rojiblancos chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil yesterday to discuss the deal.

The Wanda Metropolitano club are now unwilling to allow Barcelona to trigger the release clause because of the alleged underhand negotiations with Griezmann earlier in the season, which “disrespected” the club.

After ordering the player fulfil contract obligations and return to training next week, Atletico then accused Barcelona of damaging the integrity of the game.

It now appears as if Griezmann could stay at Atletico next season, with four years still remaining on his deal.

Atletico Madrid deliver furious response to Barcelona over Antoine Griezmann comments
Antoine Griezmann told Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone & co he wanted this summer (Image: Getty)

ATLETICO MADRID STATEMENT IN FULL

Following today’s quotes from FC Barcelona president Josep María Bartomeu on our player Antoine Griezmann, Atlético de Madrid wishes to publicly declare that:

On May 14, Antoine Griezmann informed Miguel Ángel Gil, Diego Pablo Simeone and Andrea Berta of his decision to leave our club at the end of the season. In the days that followed that meeting, Atlético de Madrid learned that FC Barcelona and the player had reached an agreement in March, specifically in the days following the return match of our Champions League tie against Juventus, and that they had been negotiating the terms of the agreement since mid-February.

Regarding president Bartomeu's statement today we wish to state that it is true that yesterday there was a meeting between Miguel Ángel Gil and FC Barcelona CEO Oscar Grau, at Barcelona's request and that at that meeting, Mr Grau expressed his intention, once the release clause of Antoine Griezmann's contract had decreased from 200 to 120 million euros, to ask for a deferred payment of the aforementioned amount of the clause in force as from July 1.

Atlético de Madrid’s response was obviously negative, as we believe that FC Barcelona and the player have disrespected Atlético de Madrid and all its fans.

As a consequence, today, Atletico de Madrid has instructed the player, his sister and agent and his lawyer, that Antoine Griezmann, in compliance with his contractual obligations with our club, must appear next Sunday in the club’s facilities in order to start the pre-season with the rest of his teammates.

Through this statement, Atletico de Madrid wishes to express its strongest disapproval of the behaviour of both, especially FC Barcelona, for prompting the player to break his contractual relationship with Atletico de Madrid at a time of the season when the club was involved in the Champions League tie against Juventus, as well as the league title race against FC Barcelona, something that we believe violates the protected periods of negotiation with players and alters the basic rules of integrity in any sporting competition, as well as causing enormous damage to our club and its millions of fans.