Antoine Griezmann 'to join Barcelona after World Cup' - report

Spanish daily Sports says agreement has been reached for the Atletico Madrid striker to join Catalan giants after Russia 2018

Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann warms up before a match. Javier Barbancho / Reuters

Barcelona and Antoine Griezmann have reached an agreement for the France striker to switch from Atletico Madrid to the Catalan giants at the end of the season, Spanish daily Sport reported on Saturday.

"The Atletico Madrid forward has agreed to join Barcelona and will be under Ernesto Valverde's orders next season," Sport said.

The Catalan daily also points out that while Griezmann currently has a buyout clause of €200 million (Dh898m), that figure drops by half on July 1.

Barcelona have been scrambling to add high-quality players to their squad since Paris Saint-Germain lured Brazilian star Neymar to France in a world record signing in August.

Philippe Coutinho joined from Liverpool this month for a deal that could be worth €180m.

The newspaper says it believes Griezmann's transfer would take place after this summer's World Cup in Russia, where he will have a key role for France, who are among the favourites.

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Read more:

• Long Read: How Barcelona have bounced back under Ernesto Valverde
• Atletico Madrid report Barcelona to Fifa over 'repeated contact' with Antoine Griezmann

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Another Catalan daily, Mundo Deportivo, reported in December that the player's family had lunch with the Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu to smooth the way for the transfer.

Brazilian-born Spain strker Diego Costa joined Atletico from Chelsea in September, and has proved to be the club's star performer since his debut two weeks ago.

Barcelona, whose star performers Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta are all in their thirties, signed Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dormund for €105 million euros last summer, but the 20-year-old French winger has only just returned from a hamstring injury.