Barcelona president Joan Laporta has made it explicitly clear that the club are open to offers for Antoine Griezmann.
It has been reported throughout recent weeks that Griezmann has been offered out as Barcelona seek to reduce their wage bill in order to be able to register Lionel Messi‘s new deal, as well as the contracts of the four new signings.
A swap deal with Saúl Ñiguez has been discussed, but that particular proposal seems to be a non-starter, while other swap deals with Manchester City and Juventus have also made it into the rumour mill.
But it would appear there are colonels of truth in those reports because Barca chief Laporta could not have made it more clear that Barcelona are willing to sell the superstar Frenchman this summer, effectively inviting offers for the forward.
“Griezmann is a player that has a market, with clubs interested, and we are building the squad searching for a financial equilibrium,” he said, as cited by Mundo Deportivo.
“With Antoine, we don’t have any problem, we love him. But if the market moves, we are open to all offers because we are in a delicate moment where we have to balance financial fair play and because of that, we should speak with all the players so that it does not hurt them, or (if it does) for the least time possible.
“We are making these balances and are open to all the options that the market can give us, but we don’t want to harm the team competitively.”
Griezmann is currently valued at €60million by Transfermarkt, but having bought the 30-year-old for €120million only two years ago, it is likely Barca will command at least €80million this summer.
