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Antoine Griezmann nears full Atlétio Madrid return as terms with Barcelona near completion

Griezmann bagged 133 goals in 257 combined appearances for Colchoneros before his move to Barcelona in the summer of 2019 which garnered worldwide attention


Barcelona look set to continue in their ambitions of clearing the decks of unwanted first-team personnel under budding young boss and former Barça midfield maestro Xavi after the club has closed on completed terms with Atlético Madrid to ship French international forward Antoine Griezmann back to the Spanish capital.

According to reports in L’Équipe, Griezmann is happy to return to Madrid after his time at Barcelona can largely be categorized as frustrating at the very least after the Mâcon native arrived at Camp Nou for a whopping €120m in the summer of 2019 after the future of his career drew worldwide attention.

But Barcelona is set to take a massive loss on their investment in the now 31-year-old in the wake of just 35 goals in a combined 102 appearances during his time on the east coast of Spain, with Atléti set to spend just €20m plus add-ons to bring him back to the red and white half of the capital.

Barcelona’s rip-roaring run of form under Xavi has continued this season as the Spanish giants currently top the La Liga table in the midst of heavy reinforcement both in the January window as well as this summer, with a revamped and reinforced senior setup firing on all cylinders, leaving no space for a return for Griezmann.

First exploding onto the scene at Real Sociedad after coming through the Basque outfit’s youth ranks, Griezmann would go on to hit 52 goals across 201 competitive fixtures before Atléti plunked him off the books at the Anoeta Stadium in the summer of 2014, before he would go on to achieve critical acclaim and global stardom during his five years at the club which included three major honors at club level as well as a World Cup win with France.

Andrew Thompson

US-based Football writer. German football guru with a wealth of experience in youth development and analysis. Data aficionado. Happily championing the notion that Americans have a knowledgeable voice in the beautiful game.


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