Staff Reporter.
La Liga champions Atletico Madrid have re-signed forward Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona on a one-year loan deal.
Atletico will pay the player’s wages and there is a compulsory clause to make the transfer permanent.
The France international scored 133 goals in 257 games for Atletico, leaving in 2019 after Barcelona paid his £107m buyout clause.
But the 30-year-old scored just 35 goals in 102 games and managed to win only won the Copa del Rey with Barca.
He is the 11th player to leave financially struggling Barcelona this summer, including Lionel Messi.
Barcelona had to let their all-time top goalscorer leave to fit within La Liga’s wage structure, and Messi joined Paris St-Germain.
Griezmann is the third transfer deadline day sale from Barcelona. Right-back Emerson Royal joined Tottenham for £25.8m and teenage midfielder Ilaix Moriba moved to RB Leipzig for £13.7m.
Last summer, Atletico signed striker Luis Suarez from Barcelona and he helped Diego Simeone’s side win La Liga.
Meanwhile Real Madrid have signed highly-rated France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes on a six-year deal.
The 18-year-old had entered the final 12 months of his contract with the Ligue 1 club, who were not prepared to lose him on a free transfer next year.
He completed his medical at France’s Clairefontaine training centre on Monday.
In April 2019, Camavinga became the youngest Rennes debutant aged 16 years and four months.
He quickly established himself as a regular in their first team, making 60 league appearances over the last two seasons.
The teenager became the youngest senior France international since 1914 when he made his Les Bleus debut against Croatia in the Nations League in September 2020, – and scored his first goal a month later in the 7-1 friendly win over Ukraine.