Barcelona are worried about Antoine Griezmann's playing time at Atletico Madrid

Barcelona think they could miss out on selling Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid, and are worried Diego Simeone's been told not to start the forward.

It's not exactly breaking news to point out Barcelona's continued financial predicament, after all they only have until the end of the transfer window to sell players or risk losing Jules Kounde for nothing.

Looking ahead to the future, the Spanish giants will have been looking forward to banking €40 million next summer, when Griezmann's move to Atletico was converted from a loan to a permanent move, but there's one huge problem.

Atleti's obligation to buy only comes into effect if the 31-year-old plays 50% of the games he's available for during his time on loan, with the forward having to play 45 minutes or more for it to count as a game played.

However, this season things have started in a less than ideal way for Xavi's team, with Griezmann playing just 28 minutes in each of Atleti's first two games.

Atleti's financial problems are not as well documented as Barca's but there's no doubt that things at the Wanda Metropolitano aren't great.

And the would be selling club feel that the decision to bench their on loan star is to avoid having to pay the €40 million at the end of the current campaign.

However, they lost at the weekend at home, with Villarreal scoring two late goals to go top of La Liga, with Griezmann coming on at 0-0.