Barcelona deny reports of Griezmann agreement

MADRID: Barcelona have “strongly” denied claims made by Spanish daily Sport on Saturday that they have reached an agreement to sign Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid at the end of the season.
“The Atletico Madrid forward has agreed to join Barcelona and will be under (coach) Ernesto Valverde’s orders next season,” Sport said, adding that Griezmann’s current buy-out clause of 200 million euros ($240 million) drops by half on July 1.

However, Barcelona later took the unusual step of releasing a statement to deny the reports from the Catalan newspaper.

“FC Barcelona strongly denies the information that has appeared over the course of the last few hours in different media regarding Atletico Madrid player, Antoine Griezmann, and an alleged deal with our club,” said the statement on the Catalan club’s website.

Such a reaction can be explained by the fact that Atletico have complained to FIFA about “repeated contacts” between Barca and the France striker.

“FC Barcelona expresses its objections in the face of these events and reiterates its full respect for the institution of Atletico Madrid,” added the statement.

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 last August.

Philippe Coutinho joined from Liverpool this month in a 180 million-euro ($220 million) deal.

Not wanting to add fuel to the fire, Valverde played down the transfer talk at his press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Betis in La Liga.

“Griezmann is a great player who plays for another club whom we respect,” he said.

“When the transfer window is open, we are in a world where there is speculation on a daily basis and we have to live with that.

“But if you’re asking me if Griezmann is a good player, well obviously he is a good player. But I repeat what I always say: I prefer to talk about my own players.”
Sport says it believes Griezmann’s transfer will take place after the World Cup in Russia, where he will have a key role for France, who are among the favourites.

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 striker Diego Costa joined Atletico from Chelsea in September, and has proved to be the club’s top performer since his debut two weeks ago.
Barcelona, whose stars Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta are all in their thirties, signed Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for 105 million euros last summer, but the 20-year-old French rising star’s campaign has been marred by injury.

AFP

UEFA not investigating Man City over FFP rules

MADRID – UEFA is not investigating Manchester City under Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules after the Spanish football league (LFP) called for an inquiry into the English club and backed the decision of European soccer’s governing body to look into Paris St Germain’s spending.

The LFP called for UEFA to look into the two clubs’ finances after they each splashed out over 200 million pounds in the last transfer window.

“PSG and Man City’s funding by state-aid distorts European competitions and creates an inflationary spiral that is irreparably harming the football industry,” LFP president Javier Tebas said in a statement on Monday.

PSG have been owned by the Qatar Sports Investment fund since 2011 and Premier League City were bought by The Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.

La Liga requested that they be investigated in August, saying both clubs have sponsorships which “make no economic sense and lack fair value”.

“There is no investigation into Manchester City with regards to FFP regulations. Any reports mentioning such an investigation are unsubstantiated,” UEFA said in a statement.

UEFA opened a formal investigation last week into PSG to see if their transfer spending has contravened the break-even rules of FFP.

“PSG is a habitual offender and has been violating UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations for years,” Tebas added.

“It is important that UEFA doesn’t just look at the most recent player transfers, but at PSG’s history of non-compliance. The transfers are merely the result of years of financial doping at PSG,” he said.

The French club signed Neymar from Barcelona for a world record fee of 222 million euros (£204.26 million).

City brought in seven players including Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy for a combined 215 million pounds, more than any other club has spent in a single transfer window.
Manchester City said they had no comment to make about the situation. PSG were not immediately available to respond.

(Reuters)