Diego Simeone Keen to Keep Antoine Griezmann As Atletico Madrid Seek Loophole to Avoid Paying Barcelona €40M

• Atletico Madrid signed Antoine Griezmann on a two-year loan deal with a mandatory €40 million option to buy
• Diego Simeone is a fan of Antoine Griezmann and doesn't want to let the player leave in the transfer window
• Atletico Madrid are looking for loopholes in their contract with Barcelona, so they don't have to pay for the player

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone is a fan of Antoine Griezmann and doesn’t want to part ways with the French player.

Griezmann has been the centre of numerous transfer stories in recent weeks as stories did the rounds that Los Rojiblancos were looking to trade him for Cristiano Ronaldo.

But coach Simeone said that losing the player during the current transfer window would be against his wishes, Football Espana reported.

“I have spoken a lot about him. He is a very complete player, a player that knows what we want. He has vision, the work-rate. Let’s hope he continues with us,” Simeone said.

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News also broke that Atleti would have to pay Barcelona a whopping €40m to sign Griezmann once his loan deal with the Madrid side ends.

The two sides agreed on a two-year loan deal for the player. As part of the deal, Atleti would have to pay €40m for the French forward if he played 50% of games during his two-year spell, with a minimum of 45 minutes per game.

As reported by Madrid Universal, Los Rojiblancos are trying to find a loophole in the contract to get out of paying the fee. One way is either benching him for the new season, a move that seems unlikely as Simeone is keen on having the player in his squad.

The Madrid side are also considering playing Griezmann for less than 45 minutes a game, thereby ensuring they don’t meet the minimum game time clause of the deal.

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That way, Griezmann would return to Barcelona at the end of his spell unless the Catalan club agreed to sell him to Atleti for a much lower fee.

Atletico Madrid are unwilling to pay €40 million transfer fee for Barcelona attacker Antoine Griezmann

Atletico Madrid find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Antoine Griezmann.

The French forward is on loan at the club, but there were conditions to the loan which could come back to haunt Madrid now.

As reported by Goal at the time, Griezmann returned to Atletico on a two-year loan deal with a mandatory €40 million option to buy included in the deal.