Griezmann to leave Atletico Madrid with Barcelona favourites

Antoine Griezmann has announced he will leave Atletico Madrid at the end of the season after five years at the club.

Griezmann has been heavily linked with a move away from Atletico in each of the last two summers but turned down chances to join Manchester United and Barcelona.

The 28-year-old was rewarded with a bumper new deal by Atletico after each failed transfer but is now finally ready to leave Diego Simeone’s side.

“I wanted to tell you that I’ve made the decision to leave to experience new things and have new challenges. It’s been very hard for me to take this patch, but I feel that it’s what I need,” The Guardian quote him as saying.

“I wanted to thank you all for the love you’ve given me in these five years, in which I’ve won my first important trophies with a club. They were incredible moments that I will always remember. The truth is you’re in my heart.”

Griezmann’s current Atletico deal has a €200m release clause but that goes down to €125m (£108m) when the transfer window opens in July.

Barcelona have rekindled their interest in Griezmann in the wake of their shock Champions League semi-final elimination and are the clear favourites to sign him.

It is already being reported that Griezmann to Barcelona is more or less a done deal, though the 2018 World Cup winner will have to accept a pay cut to join the La Liga champions.

Griezmann has played a direct hand in 126 goals in 179 league games during his time at Atletico.