On the evening of July 12, the most expensive transfer window of the summer of 2019 was activated, Antoine Griezmann moved from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona for 120 million euros, ending a series of rumors about his future since March 2019.
However, just about 1 hour after the deal was closed, Atletico posted a complaint and accused Barca of paying in excess. Specifically, the Madrid team believes that the opponent must pay 200 million euros, instead of 120 million euros.
Why did Atletico Madrid make such a move even though their player has officially joined the new team?
Back in March this year, when Atletico thought Griezmann had secretly agreed a transfer with Barca. The French striker had a contract termination fee of 200 million euros at the time. This figure will be reduced to 120 million euros after July 1.
Atletico's CEO at the time said that Griezmann and Barca considered the deal to be done and only waited for a "good day" in July to activate this deal with a lower price difference of up to 80 million euros.
The reason for demanding more money is because Atletico Madrid believes that Griezmann has agreed with Barcelona on the option of using his own money to break the contract, then joined the team at Nou Camp. That time before July 1 and Atletico accusing Barca of paying underpaid is understandable.
Griezmann's lawyer was present at La Liga headquarters yesterday, accompanied by Barcelona's representative to jointly break the contract with Atletico. Of course, Barcelona was the one who paid the money but appointed Griezmann to do it. This case is similar to the Neymar move to PSG in 2017. The French club transferred 222 million euros to Neymar so that the striker could break his ties with Barca.
Atletico believes Griezmann and Barca have signed and agreed numbers before July 1, so they are demanding an additional 80 million euros. However, the line between belief and having evidence in hand is things that are a sky, a abyss.
Atletico should remember that, when they had successfully transferred their players for 120 million euros, they only had money in hand. That " Supplemented" amount of 80 million euros must go to Spanish law enforcement agencies, higher than FIFA and the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for consideration.
In the past, in player transfers worth hundreds of millions of euros, both Barca and Atletico have been sued for underpaid fees. The reason remains the same when the money claimant believes that the number they receive must be higher due to the time difference to lower the release price. However, thanks to both FIFA and CAS, it is still impossible to reach any conclusion due to lack of evidence.
The international player transfer market is where unimaginable amounts of money are being negotiated and exchanged every year. However, there are still too many loopholes for the parties to avoid, thereby saving a lot of money like Barcelona is doing.
The fact that Griezmann has "going out at night" or secretly negotiating with Barca before is something Atletico cannot control. Therefore, they just "coveted" after seeing their star join the new club.
If you have to blame yourself for falling twice in the Champions League final in the past 5 years. When Griezmann left, Atletico struggled to find a new foothold to continue to nurture hope.
