At Atletico Madrid, Antoine Griezmann, who still belongs to FC Barcelona, is sometimes a benchwarmer, sometimes a matchwinner – and then a benchwarmer again. It’s all down to a cunning plan.
Atletico Madrid have scored four goals so far on their way to an acceptable start to the season (six points after three games). Two goals have come from Alvaro Morata, who has always been in Diego Simeone’s starting line-up, and the other two from Antoine Griezmann, who has come off the bench in all three games – most recently as match-winner in the away win at Valencia.
So could Simeone just try the two together now? Well, that’s probably something you can rarely expect to happen with the Rojiblancos, and there’s an increasingly clear reason for that.
The now 31-year-old Griezmann, who moved there from Atletico in 2019 for around 120 million euros, is in fact still owned by FC Barcelona, who have a very specific clause in the two-year loan contract. The clause states that the Rojiblancos will have to pay a €40 million purchase fee if the Frenchman plays more than 45 minutes in more than half of Atletico’s games.
Suspended 60th minute
Because this had already been the case 30 times last season, the capitals, who also do not want to pay Griezmann’s salary in the future, are now virtually forced to use their goal scorer only very sporadically – as has happened so far. The world champion was always substituted shortly after the 60th minute.
So Griezmann will probably be able to score as many late and important goals as he wants – and on Saturday (18.30) he will probably have to take his place on the bench again against his former employers Real Sociedad. There is no longer a clause, however.
