Sometimes you really have to wonder how footballing authorities come to certain decisions. Usually opinions will be split depending who you support, this one seems to universally accepted as ridiculous.
To put some context on this, Barcelona were accused of tapping up Antoine Griezmann and reaching an agreement with him before his reported release clause dropped. As reported by the BBC, the negotiations took place when the clause was believed to be worth €200m but the move was completed when it dropped to €120m.
As a result, you could argue that Atletico Madrid lost out on €80m.
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The BBC report confirms that The Spanish federation confirmed Barcelona had broken the rules by speaking to Griezmann without Atleti’s permission. So naturally you think the punishment will be something to deter other clubs from doing the same, a real chance to make an example of a big club and show this isn’t acceptable.
The actual result was a fine of €300. That’s not a typo, three hundred euros. The decision has been met with absolute ridicule in the Spanish press who gleefully pointed out how this compares to some other common fines handed out.
This illustration from Marca was particularly notable:
As the illustration shows, if you drink in the street you would be fined €600, twice as much as illegally approaching a player and doing a club out of €80m. My personal favourite is you would be fined the same amount as Barca if you drove without a shirt on and wearing flip flops.
The complete lack of punishment will only encourage clubs to do the same going forward. If Atletico Madrid see this is what happens then what’s to stop them doing the same to a smaller club and forcing this trend further down the food chain?
Either way, it will have zero impact on Barcelona and their future activities.