Griezmann told to report to training as Atleti accuse Barca of tapping up striker
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ATLETICO MADRID have released a furious statement accusing Barcelona of tapping up Antoine Griezmann.
The Frenchman has been ordered to return to training despite telling the club he was off this summer.
And Atleti chiefs have taken a dim view after Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu claimed talks had taken place over an £108million transfer on Thursday.
And now the player has been told to report to pre-season training despite his public wish to leave.
The comments came in light of Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirming talks between the clubs had begun on Thursday.
In response, Atleti released a statement on Friday evening spelling out their anger at the way Barca have conducted their business.
It is claimed the Catalans covertly approached Griezmann in February, which led to his request to switch clubs some months later.
The statement read: "On May 14, Antoine Griezmann informed Miguel Angel Gil, Diego Simeone and Andrea Berta of his decision to leave the club at the end of the season.
"In the days following that meeting, Atletico learned that Barcelona and the player had reached an agreement in March, specifically in the days after the second leg of our Champions League tie against Juventus.
Our response was negative, understanding that both Barcelona and the player had disrespected Atletico and all its fans.
Club statement on Barca asking to delay paying Griezmann's fee
"As well as they had been negotiating the terms of the agreement since mid-February."
Barcelona chief executive Oscar Grau's meeting with Atleti counterpart Angel Gil was also confirmed by the capital club.
In spite of Barca's considerable interest, they are said to have asked to DELAY paying Griezmann's transfer fee.
It continued: "Mr. Grau expressed his intention, once the release clause had passed from £179m to £108m, to request a postponement of the payment of the aforementioned amount as of July 1.
"Obviously the response from Atletico was negative, understanding that both Barcelona and the player had disrespected Atletico and all its fans."
The circumstances led to Los Rojiblancos describing their discontent in the strongest possible terms.
Atletico wants to express its strongest repulsion at the behaviour of both, especially Barcelona.
Club statement
And now they expect Griezmann to turn up for their training camp in the Spanish town of Los Angeles de San Rafael on Sunday.
The statement read: "As a result of all this, today, Atletico has requested the player [...] in compliance with his contractual obligations to our club, appears next Sunday at the training ground in order to start pre-season with the rest of his teammates.
"Atletico wants to express its strongest repulsion at the behaviour of both, especially of Barcelona, for having induced the player to break his contractual relationship with Atletico at a point of the season when the club was playing, not only the Champions League tie against Juventus, but also the league title against Barcelona itself.
"Something that we consider violates protected periods of negotiation with players and alters the basic rules that govern the integrity of all sports competition, besides being a huge loss to our club and its millions of fans."
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Blaugrana chief Bartomeu had earlier admitted to the talks commencing, telling journalists: "Yesterday we had a meeting.
"Oscar Grau met with Miguel Angel Gil Marin, and we started enquiring about whether it would be possible for this deal to happen. I will not explain anything else.
"There's interest, that's why we got together. I was not at the meeting. I cannot explain anything else."
