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| Antoine Griezmann of Atletico de Madrid looks on during the Spanish League, La Liga Santander, football match played between Atletico de Madrid and Villarreal CF at Civitas Metropolitano stadium on August 21, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. |
Atletico Madrid are in a very sticky situation with Antoine Griezmann, as we all know.
Diego Simeone effectively admitted in his press conference this week that he was avoiding playing the striker for more than 45 minutes so that the club don’t have to pay his compulsory purchase fee to Barcelona.
It’s not fair on the player, and Atletico want to negotiate a lower fee to avoid the slightly ridiculous situation. The player is putting up with it, and as Mundo Deportivo explain here, he has no legal recourse anyway.
FIFA rules say that they must include him in training, but there’s nothing that compels them to play him in the starting line up.
Let’s hope the two clubs can come up with a good compromise soon to end this ridiculous situation. It’s a bad look for the player, and both clubs, to carry on in this limbo for much longer.
