One of the longest-running transfer sagas of the past year has finally come to a close after Barcelona announced that they have secured the signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid.


After months of negotiations, Barcelona finally agreed to pay the Frenchman's €120m release clause, offering him a five-year contract which will keep him at the club until 2024 - adding an eye-watering release clause of €800m to ward off any interest from their closest European rivals.

​Barcelona confirmed the news on their ​website, adding a statement which read: "FC Barcelona has paid the 120 million euro buyout clause to release Antoine Griezmann from ​Atlético Madrid. The player will sign a contract with his new club for the next five seasons, through to 30 June 2024, with a buyout clause of 800 million euros.


"We will shortly be publishing the full schedule for the presentation of Antoine Griezmann as a new member of the Barça first team."

Due the on-going nature of the transfer saga, plenty reacted to the news on Twitter with a sense of relief rather than excitement...



The over-the-top nature of Griezmann's frankly absurd release clause didn't go unnoticed either, as everyone unanimously agreed that Barca may be going a little overboard in this instance.


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While Griezmann's future has been decided, attention now turns to Neymar, whose potential return to Barcelona now looks to be in jeopardy. 


Barcelona have been linked with a potential move for their former player, but the Griezmann deal could throw a spanner in the works...or not. This is Barcelona after all.




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