Atletico Madrid have accused Antoine Griezmann and Barcelona of "disrespect" and say Barca talked to their player in March.

Atletico say they have rejected Barcelona's offer and ordered Frenchman Griezmann to report for pre-season.

In a statement, the Madrid club expressed their "strongest repulsion for the behaviour of both, especially Barcelona".

Griezmann, 28, said in May he would leave Atletico this summer.

The France international has scored 94 La Liga goals in 180 games for Atletico and is widely expected to move to Barcelona.

He has a buyout clause in his contract of 120m euros but Atletico say their La Liga rivals want to postpone payment and were talking to him months ago.

"Obviously, the response from Atletico was negative. Understand that both Barcelona and the player have disrespected Atletico and all its fans," the Atletico statement added.

"On 14 May, Antoine Griezmann informed the club of his decision to leave the club at the end of the season.

"In the days following that meeting, Atletico learned that Barcelona and the player had reached an agreement last March, specifically in the days after the second leg of our Champions League tie against Juventus, and had been negotiating the terms of the agreement since mid-February.

"[This is] something we consider violates protected periods of negotiation with players and alters the basic rules that govern the integrity of all sports competition, besides being a huge loss to our club and its millions of fans."

'We never talk about other players'- Barca
Earlier on Friday, Barca president Josep Bartomeu said the club had made contact with Griezmann and that their former forward Neymar "wants to leave Paris St-Germain".

Brazil international Neymar left Barcelona for PSG in 2017 for a world record fee of 222m euros (£200m) and has been linked with a return.

Bartomeu also said he knows where 19-year-old Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt, strongly linked with a move away from Ajax, will be playing next season.

Barcelona have already signed De Ligt's international team-mate Frenkie de Jong from the Dutch champions.

"The first contact with Griezmann was yesterday," said Bartomeu on Friday. "There is an interest, that's why we got together.

"We never talk about players from other teams.
"We know Neymar wants to leave PSG but we know that PSG do not want Neymar to leave.

"I said long ago I knew where De Ligt would play. I still know it and I cannot say more."

During the unveiling of De Jong, Bartomeu was asked about Atletico's statement, adding: "We are introducing De Jong and I will talk about it at another time."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48888055

Barca is stalling on d deal becos Neymar is back in d market.. Barca fans and players don't want Griezman becos of how he publicly rejected Barca jus last season and den afta 1 season he suddenly wants dem back... Barca is probably considering d possibility of signing both Neymar and Griezmann but dat will mean offloading d likes of Dembele and Malcom...

Atletico abeg na.

Barca attack is not too sharp as it ought to. Messi is over working himself

Nbote:
Barca is stalling on d deal becos Neymar is back in d market.. Barca fans and players don't want Griezman becos of how he publicly rejected Barca jus last season and den afta 1 season he suddenly wants dem back... Barca is probably considering d possibility of signing both Neymar and Griezmann but dat will mean offloading d likes of Dembele and Malcom...

I don't see Barca offloading dembele , if Ney comes coutinho is leaving .

When Griezman did that his decision video and decided to remain at Atletico Madrid I thought it was comedy film

Now it's looking like a thriller with alot of plot twists.

But one thing I'm very sure if Neymar drops dead today Barca will surely sign Griezman

Every time Barca and Atlético have beef!! Anyways click link to see the full breakdown of Day 4 in BBNaija, and a review of the house mates first diary session!!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjYubQ4WmIc

Hmmmmm Odiegwu

Barca is no longer the great club it once was, from the transfer of dembele, Malcolm to Coutinho, they've always prepare to be cocky with their dealings.

They should let him go, no need keeping an unhappy player. Moreover, griezman has really tried for the club. He stayed with them when they were hit with transfer ban and he was getting offers to earn bigger money elsewhere. He chose to stay with the club until the transfer ban was over. They should let him fulfill his own dreams now.

I don't see barca signing neymar and griezman at the same time, that would be a lot of debt, they would need to offload some players to do that

tsinzu:
They should let him go, no need keeping an unhappy player. Moreover, griezman has really tried for the club. He stayed with them when they were hit with transfer ban and he was getting offers to earn bigger money elsewhere. He chose to stay with the club until the transfer ban was over. They should let him fulfill his own dreams now.

So he should go to Barca free?

Barcelona's problem is that they don't have a quality coach not players

Better come Chelsea griezman.. Barça is a stupid tinpot club

Every year Athletico keep accusing Barca of disrespect over Griezemann saga, dem no the tire?

Barca president behaving like a seer

NaijaCelebNews:
Every time Barca and Atlético have beef!! Anyways click link to see the full breakdown of Day 4 in BBNaija, and a review of the house mates first diary session!!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjYubQ4WmIc

who bbnaija help

oxygen247:
Barcelona's problem is that they don't have a quality coach not players

You have said it all. Barca direly needs a sound coach. All the coaches after Pep have been mediocres and cowards. Only Enrique tried a bit.

Just imagine what Pep would with Dembele. They are wasting away that talented boy. Compare Liverpool's Sterling with Man City's. Hugely different.

Nbote:
Barca is stalling on d deal becos Neymar is back in d market.. Barca fans and players don't want Griezman becos of how he publicly rejected Barca jus last season and den afta 1 season he suddenly wants dem back... Barca is probably considering d possibility of signing both Neymar and Griezmann but dat will mean offloading d likes of Dembele and Malcom...

we obviously do not need griezman though. All we need is a replacement for iniesta. Busquet is now weak leaving too much space for rakitic to cover. Barcelona midfielders are the backbone of the team. They should stop wasting money abeg.

mastermaestro:


You have said it all. Barca direly needs a sound coach. All the coaches after Pep have been mediocres and cowards. Only Enrique tried a bit.

Just imagine what Pep would with Dembele. They are wasting away that talented boy. Compare Liverpool's Sterling with Man City's. Hugely different.

dembele himself is wasting himself away. He's got many chances to proove himself worthy buh all to no avail. In as much as valverde is a useless coach. Josep is also wasting money on unnecessary players. We need sound midfielder. Very aggresive attacker. This is the reason we've been conceeding too many goals. The midfielders are everything in barcelona and sergio isn't what he used to be, rakitic is covering too much which is why he get's tired easily. So someone in that ini position playing just like him is all we need.

Barcelona are a hypocritical pathetic club..they tapped up coutinho,dembele and so many players in the past under guardiola coz they used to be football paradise every player wants to be part of.They are in for a very rude awakening if they think that still applies in the present time.

Kingosytex:
Atletico abeg na.

Barca attack is not too sharp as it ought to. Messi is over working himself

...And Atletico should be bothered?.. Anything that puts Real and Barca at a disadvantage will definitely lend an edge to Atletico. So, it makes no sense to sell an advantage to your main rival.

Not every club is as dumb as Arsenal and Dortmund.

LincolnLynn:
Barcelona are a hypocritical pathetic club..they tapped up coutinho,dembele and so many players in the past under guardiola coz they used to be football paradise every players wants to be part of.They are in for a very rude awakening if they think that still applies in the present time.

You just spoke the truth

Hmm... Griezmann thinks too much of himself. He thinks he is a superstar like Messi or Ronaldo. He is about to get played by Barca as pawn in their bid to get Neymar back.
Perfect revenge for last season's public rejection
Good riddance if this happens.

IntrovertedK:
we obviously do not need griezman though. All we need is a replacement for iniesta. Busquet is now weak leaving too much space for rakitic to cover. Barcelona midfielders are the backbone of the team. They should stop wasting money abeg.

That yeye coach tactics rendered the midfielders vulnerable. He isn't a ball possession type of coach thereby making Busquet, Authur and Rakitic suffer. Have u ever enjoy Barça defending in a match? As a fan, I'm not always at ease when we are defending only. Barca strength is the midfield and attack. Check Enrique and Pep season. That Roma and Liverpool come back would have been both team to score matches and in both situations Barça would still qualify. Even if we sign Ronaldo and Neymar to join Messi, with same coach we won't win the ucl

Nbote:
Barca is stalling on d deal becos Neymar is back in d market.. Barca fans and players don't want Griezman becos of how he publicly rejected Barca jus last season and den afta 1 season he suddenly wants dem back... Barca is probably considering d possibility of signing both Neymar and Griezmann but dat will mean offloading d likes of Dembele and Malcom...

Oga read d news nah... Atletico rejected d bid because barca has spoken and had an agreement with Griezman as far back as March, before he even told d club he will be leaving at d end of d season..

Barcelona's president has his own crude and strange ways of approaching players. A player that is worth 20m euro, if barca went for the said player, the price will be around 100m to 120m euros. Assuming it was barca that went for Hazard, Chelsea would have sold him for about 180 or 200 euros. No dey appear desperate even wen u dey die to have a particular thing. Barcelona's desperation has not only given them bad names, it has lost them a lot of money. I am a barca fan and i hate the current coach and the president.