Barcelona are believed to have reached out to Juventus in their attempts to download Antoine Griezmann this summer, with Paulo Dybala potentially going in the opposite direction to Camp Nou if a high-profile swap agreement can be agreed.
The Catalan giants Barça are desperate to trim their salary costs as much as possible, with La Liga’s strict salary policy currently preventing the club from correctly registering new signings Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia or concluding a new contract with Lionel Messi.
Messi is reported to have agreed a new deal with Barça that will reduce his previous salaries by half, but the deal is not official until the club can ensure that all salaries for 2021/22 are below the upper limit allowed by La Liga based on their annual income.
Griezmann has already been strongly linked with a return to the former club Atletico Madrid in a potential replacement deal for midfielder Saul Niguez. But Mundo Deportivo reported on Monday that Barça have now chosen to pull the plug on it.
It is said that Barça are anxious not to have to continue paying anything for Griezmann’s salary, as was the case when Luis Suarez left the club for Atletico, while they are anxious for Saul to take a pay cut. The midfielder is interested in joining, but not for less money than he already earns.
Instead, L’Equipe suggests that Barça, having now contacted Juventus to offer Griezmann there instead, could ask to switch to Dybala.
Dybala has been linked with a Juve exit for some time and now has only one year left on his current contract in Turin. Injury limited the Argentine to only 14 Serie A starts last season, although the season before he managed 25 league starts started and ended with 31 goals and assists in total.
As always, there are contrasting reports that make the rounds. Prominent journalist Fabrizio Romano has since tweeted that sources close to Barça and Juve have denied that they have come into contact with each other, and the latter is instead waiting for Dybala to return to Italy so that negotiations on a new deal can begin.
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