“The summer transfer window is long and complicated,” a source at Atletico Madrid told Athletic in mid-July, when asked about the possibility of moving to return Antoine Griezmann to the club.
This prediction was unprecedented, as the documents for Griezmann’s return after two years with Barcelona arrived in the La Liga Manager transfer system just before midnight on the deadline in Spain. It was the end point, with Atletico needing their midfielder Saul Niguez to join Chelsea first, and Barcelona want to line up a loan for Sevilla’s Luuk de Jong as an indirect substitute for Griezmann.
Most of the parties involved were happy: Saul needed a fresh start, Atletico coach Diego Simeone wanted Griezmann back and the Frenchman himself has not had a great time at the Camp Nou. De Jong must be especially delighted with how things worked, as he woke up on Tuesday morning as Sevilla’s third striker.
There was also relief in the Barcelona boardroom when it came to reducing the pressure on its payroll, with the club’s debts of 1.3 billion euros, also the reason why President Joan Laporta went having to finally tell Lionel Messi last month that they just couldn’t afford maintenance.
But there was also confusion among many Barcelona fans and experts that the first line of the team for its inauguration