Antoine Griezmann has announced he has turned down an offer to join Barcelona in order to stay at Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona have been relentlessly chasing Griezmann’s signature for the last six months and were confident of landing the France international.
Griezmann snubbed Manchester United 12 months ago for another season at Atletico but his time at the club appeared over after winning the Europa League final in May.
Barcelona’s offer was not as financially rewarding as Atletico’s but the Spanish champions hoped the allure of playing with Lionel Messi and an increased chance of regular silverware would clinch his signature.
However, Griezmann has instead turned all of that down to remain with Atletico and will reportedly now become the best paid player in the club’s history.
It caps a great week of business for Atletico, having already reached an agreement with Monaco for star man Thomas Lemar and also securing Jose Gimenez’s long-term future.
Griezmann scored 19 goals and provided nine assists in 32 league appearances for Atletico last season.
Not only that, but of players that started more than six Europa League matches last season, Griezmann had the highest WhoScored rating (7.91).
