October 5, 2022
The brief from today:
Sevilla confirm Lopetegui sacking
The rumors were swirling yesterday regarding Sevilla’s open flirtation with Jorge Sampaoli to be their new coach despite Julien Lopetegui still being in charge of the first team. Well, following the heavy 1-4 home defeat in the Champions League to Borussia Dortmund earlier today, Sevilla have now confirmed the official sacking of Lopetegui. The Spaniard was quite emotional after the final whistle as he waved goodbye to the Sevilla fans, even wiping away tears at one point. Considering the perennial dominance of La Liga by Real Madrid and Barcelona, and to a slightly lesser extent, Atletico Madrid, over the last decade, Lopetegui’s efforts at Sevilla since 2019 have been admirable. That said, the current form and start to the season was far from what the club’s hierarchy expect, despite crippling him and the squad by selling two of his best defenders in Jules Kounde and Diego Carlos during the summer. In the end, it was always going to be a matter of when, not if, he got sacked, and the time for his departure has now arrived.
Lopetegui (center) had an emotional end to his spell at Sevilla earlier today
Griezmann agrees to pay cut
The long running transfer saga between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona over Antoine Griezmann looks to be nearing its end. The 31-year-old really made his name while playing for Atletico from 2014-2019, but that form eventually prompted Barcelona to sign him for a whopping €120 million. His spell in Catalonia would end up being a disappointment, and he would eventually end up back at Atletico on a two-year loan beginning in 2021/22. As part of the agreement, Atletico were obligated to pay €40 million to Barcelona for the full transfer in the current season if he played 50 percent of the matches he was available for. The issue with this, however, is Atletico no longer wanted to pay that fee, and in the first two months of the season Griezmann had been relegated to the bench, primarily restricted to making 30 minute appearances. Despite Barca’s threats of legal action claiming that regardless of the management of minutes, Atletico were obligated to pay the €40 million, the Madrid based side persisted with their approach. Today, it seems that method has paid off as the transfer fee has now been negotiated down to €20 million, and Griezmann himself has agreed to take a pay cut from the €12 million per year he earned at Barcelona, to €8 million per year in order to facilitate the move to Atletico. With all of these concessions taking place, and the official announcement of an agreement being imminent, the days of Griezmann playing less than half an hour per match seem to have reached their end.
Griezmann can now look forward to playing more than 30 minutes per match for Atletico