Topics: Transfer, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Antoine Griezmann
The Frenchman's loan move has finally been made permanent.

Antoine Griezmann is set to permanently join Atletico Madrid, putting an end to his forgetable spell at Barcelona, latest reports have revealed. The deal was concluded on Friday after Barcelona accepted a $19M offer from Los Rojiblancos for the forward who is currently on loan at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Diego Simeone is a big fan of Griezmann, having been the man to recruit the Frenchman for Atletico from Real Sociedad in a six-year dea back in 2014 . In 2019, the attacker joined Barcelona after the Catalans activated his $118M buyout clause. However, he struggled to settle in and was subsequently left on the fringes, prompting Simeone to convince the Atletico hierarchy to bring their former posterboy back to the Wanda Metropolitano in 2021.

Griezmann joined Atleti on a two-year loan deal that would become mandatory at the end of that time for $39M. But because that deal depended on a provision requiring Griezmann to play a certain number of minutes, it became increasingly difficult for that clause to be activated, and Atletico tried to work around it in order to avoid paying the agreed-upon sum. 

The World Cup winner has only started two of the team's 10 games this season in all competitions, and he notably enters games as a substitute after the hour mark. Both Atletico and Barca were, as a result, compelled to reach a different arrangement due to the development.

Having been locked in negotiations for weeks, Italian journalist and transfer news guru Fabrizio Romano has revealed that an agreement has finally been reached, with the Frenchman set to make his loan move permanent for a fee of $19.5M. However, he has taken a massive paycut to complete the switch as he will now receive a little close to $7M per year - over $10M less than what he received at Barcelona.