Antoine Griezmann is officially an player once more after they permanently re-signed the forward from Barcelona on Monday.
The France international had left Atletico for Barcelona in 2019 for £108million, the sixth most expensive transfer of all-time.
However, after struggling to settle at the Nou Camp, and with Barcelona’s high-profile financial woes crippling the club, Griezmann returned to the Wanda Metropolitano on loan just two years later.
Atletico have always been interested in bring the player back permanently but were unwilling to pay the €40m (£35.1m) buy-out clause in his contract which would be triggered if the forward played a certain number of minutes this season.
As a result, Griezmann has been almost exclusively restricted to 30 minute cameos from the bench this season, but now both clubs have come to a resolution in order to shift the 31-year-old on.
Atletico have agreed to paid Barcelona £18m, which combined with the £9m loan fee from last season, means that the Catalans have made an £81m loss on the player.
Griezmann first moved to Diego Simeone’s side in 2014 from Real Sociedad and over the course of his first five seasons there established himself as one of the best forwards in world football.
He won the Europa League, UEFA Supercup and Spanish Supercup, and reached the final of the 2016 Champions League, where they lost on penalties to local rivals Real Madrid.
In all, he has scored 144 goals and made 59 assists in 304 games for the club, and is currently their fourth highest goalscorer of all-time, and with his new deal running until 2026 he has a great chance to be top of the list by the end of his career.
Also a star on the international stage, Griezmann won the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 Nations League, as well as finishing runner-up at Euro 2016 where he won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards.
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