Barcelona will negotiate with Atletico Madrid to lower €15 million fee for winger | OneFootball

Barcelona allowed Memphis Depay to join Atletico Madrid during the January transfer window for a fee of €4 million. As part of the deal, the Catalans secured a purchase option for Atleti winger Yannick Carrasco for the summer, for a fee worth €15 million.

Now, according to Roger Torello of Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are planning to sit down with Atletico Madrid to negotiate a lower fee than the agreed-upon €15 million for the Belgian international.

Carrasco is entering the final year of his contract with the Rojiblancos and is keen on a move to Barça in the summer. The Catalans had tried to sign the 29-year-old winger in January itself but their La Liga rivals were against sanctioning a loan move.

Having secured the purchase option for him, the Blaugrana intend to sign Carrasco in the summer. However, they are unwilling to shell out the €15 million fee that was agreed upon during the negotiations in the winter.

Instead, Barcelona are hoping to lower the valuation for the Belgian winger, much like Atletico Madrid had done with Antoine Griezmann recently.

The Frenchman left Barça for Atleti in the summer of 2021, joining on a two-year loan deal with a permanent purchase clause of €40 million.

However, Los Rojiblancos took advantage of a clause in the loan agreement and capitalised on Barcelona’s financial issues to drive down Griezmann’s final transfer fee to €20 million plus €4 million in variables.

Now, Barcelona wish to apply a similar tactic with Carrasco, with reports suggesting that the La Liga leaders do not intend to pay more than €9-10 million for the winger.

Considering that Atletico Madrid are in need to make sales in the summer and the fact that Carrasco’s contract expires next year, they might be willing to play ball. And it will be interesting to see if Barcelona are successful in their efforts to sign him for a fee lower than €15 million.