Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are close to reaching an agreement for the signing of star striker

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are close to reaching an agreement for the signing of star striker.

The final act of the Antoine Griezmann soap drama has begun. According to Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are close to finalizing an agreement for the permanent transfer of the French international following a lot of rumors, legal threats, and tough negotiations.

The 31-year-old transferred from Barça to Atletico last year on loan, with a necessary €40 million buyout clause in the contract. The terms under which the permanent buy clause would be triggered, however, were a point of contention between the two teams.

Griezmann appeared for at least 45 minutes in more than 50% of Atleti’s games last season, according to Barcelona, who claimed that this activated the clause.

However, the Rojiblancos believed that the €40 million purchase obligation would only be fulfilled if the 2018 World Cup champion played 45 minutes or more in 50% of the games over the course of the two loan seasons. As a result, they were only using him for less than 30 minutes per game this season.

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Barça were contemplating filing a lawsuit because of the strategies used by their competitors. However, after giving it some thought, the Catalan giants decided they would rather accept a smaller transfer fee from Atletico Madrid than have Griezmann rejoin the team for the upcoming campaign.

A breakthrough in the negotiations was eventually made, according to rumors yesterday that Barcelona and Atletico Madrid had agreed on a transfer cost of €20 million plus €2 million in add-ons.

Fabrizio Romano supports those assertions and now adds that the parties are optimistic in swiftly finalizing the agreement to put the whole ordeal to rest.

Atletico Madrid and Griezmann are about to agree to a long-term contract that will keep Griezmann at the Civitas Metropolitano through the year 2027.

According to several publications, the 31-year-old forward will sign a contract that lasts until 2026. Despite this, it is believed that he took a significant pay cut to stay at Atletico Madrid because he had always wanted to play for Diego Simeone’s team.

With the agreement set to be signed in the near future, Barcelona will be rid of Griezmann permanently while Atletico can use him as a starter and not restrict his game-time to just 30 minutes per match.