Atletico Madrid have officially signed French defender Clement Lenglet on loan from Barcelona for the 2024-25 season.
Atletico Madrid’s website has confirmed the signing of Lenglet, after reaching an agreement with Barcelona to loan him for the 2024-25 season, with no option to buy after that.
Lenglet has been a target for coach Diego Simeone and as soon as an agreement with Barcelona was reached, the 29-year-old defender travelled to Atletico Madrid for a medical on Saturday.
Barcelona have been trying to sell Lenglet for the past two years, but have struggled to make the move to Tottenham Hotspur, who is on loan for the 2022-23 season, and Aston Villa, who is on loan for the 2023-24 season, both unimpressed enough to make a permanent move.
However, Barcelona are force to accept a loan offer from Atletico Madrid in order to reduce their wage bill as much as possible.
After all, Lenglet’s €16 million per year wages made it impossible for the Catalans to keep hold of him in their current financial situation.
But his high salary also made it difficult for the Blaugrana to part ways with him and as such they have extended Lenglet’s contract by another year until 2027 before loaning him out to spread his salary and reduce some financial burden.
Lenglet has signed for Atletico Madrid on a loan deal with there being no option for a permanent purchase at the end of the season.
Lenglet moved from Sevilla to join Barcelona in ยูฟ่าเบท the summer of 2018 with a huge €35 million release clause. He has played a total of 160 games in all competitions, scoring 7 goals in 4 seasons from 2018-19 to 2021-22.