Atletico Madrid have re-signed French striker Antoine Griezmann, who has signed a contract that will keep him linked to the club until 2026, the LaLiga side said on Monday.

Barcelona had signed the world champion in 2019, after triggering his 120 million euro ($116.51 million) release clause. But the Frenchman failed to settle in the team, with which he scored only 35 goals in 102 games.

The striker returned to Atlético on loan last year, in an agreement that also allowed Diego Simeone’s team to extend his stay for another year before negotiating his definitive transfer with Barça.

“Happy to be where I want to be! Thank you all,” Griezmann wrote on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR ) after the deal was announced.

The financial details of the transfer were not revealed, but Spanish media reported that the fee was around 20 million euros, with another four million euros in variables.

Atlético wanted to have Griezmann permanently, although Simeone gave him a secondary role, as the club did not want to trigger a clause whereby he would have to pay 40 million euros if he played more than 50% of the minutes when he is available. .

Barça had already replaced him when he spent money in the preseason to sign Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Koundé, while Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessié, Héctor Bellerín and Marcos Alonso arrived on free loan.

But the Spanish club needed to sell players and cut wages to comply with LaLiga’s financial fair play rules and Griezmann’s departure reduced his salary bill to maintain the spending cap for next season.

Atlético is fourth in the LaLiga standings after eight games, six points behind leaders Real Madrid and Barcelona.