Antoine Griezmann: Barcelona fined €300 for ‘tapping up’ former Atletico Madrid striker

The France forward swapped Atletico for Barca in July after the Catalans exercised his release clause, although Atletico complained that negotiations took place when Griezmann was under contract with them

Antoine Griezmann poses next to Josep Maria Bartomeu (AFP/Getty Images)

Barcelona have been fined a just €300 by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) after they were found to have broken the rules in their signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid this summer.

The France forward swapped Atletico for Barca in July after the Catalans exercised his release clause, although Atletico complained that negotiations took place when Griezmann was under contract with them.

The RFEF's competition committee said in a statement that Barca broke its rules by beginning negotiations with Griezmann while he was under contract with Atletico without their permission and has now subsequently fined them €300.

They absolved Griezmann himself of any wrongdoing.

Barca and Atletico were not immediately available for comment.

Barca righted the ship after a sluggish start to the season with a 2-1 win over Villarreal on Tuesday.

Griezmann, who scored at the Nou Camp, is confident there is more to come from his new side.

We had chances, but we failed [to convert more goals]," he said after the game."I don't know what happened to me in the second half. I tried to finish [but couldn't score].

"We're going to do more. We can do much better. We have to keep working.

"New players have arrived, and we have to keep working."

Reuters