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Antoine Griezmann Signing Takes Barcelona To €1 Billion Transfer Mark In Five Years

Antoine Griezmann Signing Takes Barcelona To €1 Billion Transfer Mark In Five Years

The Frenchman moved to Barcelona on Friday after a lot of speculation that he would make the move for the past year.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Barcelona finally confirmed the capture of Antoine Griezmann on Friday afternoon and paying €120 million for the Frenchman has taken their transfer spending over €1 billion for the past five years.

It took a while to get there but finally Barcelona have announced that they've signed Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid, agreeing to pay the €120 million release clause that the player's contract dropped down to on July 1st.

The deal represents the joint most Barca have ever paid for a transfer outright, levelling things up with Philippe Coutinho and also means they've spend over €1 billion in transfers in the last five years, more than anyone else, according to Voetbal International.

Transfer spend since 2014, according to Transfermarkt's stats. Image: Voetbal International.
Transfer spend since 2014, according to Transfermarkt's stats. Image: Voetbal International.

In the past five years Barca have had some big summers in the transfer window, signing Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele, Malcom, Frenkie de Jong and Griezmann, amongst many others.

That means they've even outspent Premier League sides Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, despite the teams in England having incredible spending power.

As well as Griezmann and De Jong the Catalan giants have already added Neto and Emerson this summer and have been linked with a huge move for Neymar.

It's likely that if the Spanish champions did decide to try and re-sign the PSG forward then they would use some of their current players in the deal.

Selling Neymar to the Ligue 1 champions two years ago is amongst the reasons why, despite spending the most on transfers, Barca's net spend is below many of their rivals.

With the amount money they've sold in the same period added into the equation the Spanish champions have 'only' spent €381 million in the last five years.

Along with Neymar they've also sold Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez, Pedro, Claudio Bravo, Andre Gomes and many more.

Neymar at his official PSG unveiling (
PA)

Even without signing anyone else this summer Barca could end up spending even more money, with Atleti not happy with the Griezmann deal.

The Madrid based side want their La Liga rivals to pay the original transfer clause on the forward's contract because they believe an agreement was in place before July 1st.

However it's likely that Barca will make more money back again this summer with Coutinho and Dembele both linked with departures.

Who will catch Barca at the top of the transfer expenditure list?

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Topics: Football News, Barcelona, Ousmane Dembele, Transfer stories, Atletico Madrid, Philippe Coutinho, Transfer rumours, Antoine Griezmann, Transfer news, La Liga