Barça: "I told the club that there was a lot of money to be made", Koeman justifies the departure of Griezmann

Author of two goals with the France team against Finland on Tuesday night (2-0), Antoine Griezmann does not return to Barcelona after the international break.

During it, Barça managed to get the world champion, who never managed to please himself in Catalonia, to return to Atlético de Madrid.

A club he had left only two years ago.

If Barça president Joan Laporta explained that Griezmann "did not fit" into Barça's system and that he was "not the player we needed", the reason for this return home is also economical.

In the summer of 2019, the recent world champion signed a 5-year contract guaranteeing him a gross income of € 95 million over this period.

This equates to a salary of just under a million euros per month.

This salary has become unbearable for a club in financial agony which has already had to part with its treasure Lionel Messi in August.

In interviews with the Spanish newspapers Sport and Mundo Deportivo this Wednesday morning, Ronald Koeman, the Dutch coach of FC Barcelona is not looking for another reason to explain the Frenchman's return to square one:

Griezmann had a big contract and, if he left, that would help improve the club's economic situation.

That's why I accepted his departure, explains Koeman.

You have to listen to the club and support it at a difficult time in terms of money.

"

Relations between the two men have never been good. Koeman has never given the keys to his game to the world champion who has never really found his place. This departure therefore suits everyone a bit: "Griezmann was a Barça player with a very high contract and for the club, it was very, very, very important to let him return to Atlético and not to pay more for a three-year contract, continues Koeman. I told the club there was a lot of money to be made. This departure on the last day of the transfer period left us no time to find an alternative. Sportingly, it was a terrible blow. But if Griezmann left, he helped improve the club's economic situation. That's why I accepted his departure. "