Which players may have to leave Atletico Madrid?
FT Desk
- 24 Aug 2022 12:57 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona aren't the only La Liga club working hard to balance their books this summer, with Atletico Madrid already persuading Jan Oblak and Thomas Lemar to take a wage cut.
While Atleti have been nowhere near as busy as Barca in the summer transfer window, they have spent €26.5 million on recruiting Nahuel Molina and Samuel Lino from Udinese and Gil Vicente respectively, whilst only recuperating €1.75m through the sale of Daniel Wass to Brondby.
The 2021 La Liga champions also need to balance their books to satisfy La Liga's financial regulations, and Oblak, Atleti's highest-paid player, and Lemar have already agreed new contracts that help them do that.
Griezmann has not been given a squad number by Atletico Madrid this season ❌
But there is ZERO interest in him 🛑https://t.co/G5nvBtmRGa
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 10, 2022
"This policy of lowering overall salary has already been implemented with two players in Jan Oblak and Thomas Lemar," writes Goal.com's Spanish correspondent, Ruben Uria.
"They both signed their renewals. The goalkeeper until 2028, the France international until 2027... [Lemar] earned around €7m annually which has now been reduced by almost 40 per cent. Oblak also renewed, reducing and also deferring part of his salary."
Griezmann in trouble
While Oblak and Lemar remain cornerstones of Diego Simeone's first-team plans at the Estadio Metropolitano, the same cannot be said for Antoine Griezmann, the French World Cup winner who returned from Barca last summer.
If Griezmann plays less than 30 per minutes per game, the clause to make his loan deal from Barcelona permanent will not be activated, according to Barca specialist outlet Relevo.
The forward has featured in exactly 29 minutes in Atletico's opening two La Liga games - a 3-0 win over Getafe and Sunday's 2-0 loss at home to Villarreal.
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It is a situation that is simply unsustainable for a player that wants to be in France's World Cup squad for Qatar this winter, but Griezmann is far from the only player who could leave Atletico.
Joao Felix and Koke have also been approached about lowering their current wages, and while Koke is a hometown boy with more than 500 first-team appearances under his belt, Felix is three seasons into his Atleti career and remains one of the most in-demand young attackers in world football at 22.
Alvaro Morata has also been put forward as a makeweight in any potential deal for Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Manchester United man might not even get in the Metropolitano front door if Atleti can't offload some of the above.
