Already in financial difficulty, FC Barcelona would have paid 15 million euros for a player who never arrived in Catalonia.
Looking at the audit carried out by Joan Laporta and published at the beginning of last week, the rac1 hit on some interesting details. In particular a transaction of 15 million euros as part of the transfer of Antoine Griezmann from Atlético Madrid. Indeed, Catalan radio explains that FC Barcelona has – in addition to offering the services of the Frenchman for 120 million euros in 2019 – anticipated a transfer from the Uruguayan Jose Maria Gimenez. After the failure of negotiations with Ajax Amsterdam in the Matthijs de Ligt file, the Blaugrana leaders would have jumped on the Madrid defender.
Unable to align the 80 million euros demanded by Atlético Madrid, Barça thus advanced 15 million euros to secure the signing of Giménez in the future. The deal would also include a discount on another player from the Atlético squad in the event of an injury to the Uruguayan defender. It remains to be seen whether Barça will use this asset during the next summer transfer window.
