Atletico Madrid have reported fellow Spanish club, Barcelona, to FIFA for an illegal transfer approach for Antoine Griezmann.
The French forward has been linked with the Catalan club in the Spanish media.
Barcelona director, Guillermo Amor, said on Sunday that president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, may have made contact with Griezmann’s family, who are also his representatives, over a potential move.
“Atletico Madrid have presented a complaint about FC Barcelona for repeated contact between FC Barcelona, the player and his people,” Atletico told Reuters.
“Griezmann has a long time contract and this cannot be permitted, while the club also considers it could affect the competition [La Liga] in which FC Barcelona are currently top and Atletico are second.”
FC Barcelona, who were issued with a one-year transfer ban in 2014 for signing under-age players by world football governing body FIFA, did not respond when asked for comment.
FIFA said they had received the complaint from Atletico, but had no further comment at this stage.
The 26-year-old Griezmann signed a new Atletico contract in June until 2022, which has a 100 million euro ($118.2 million) release clause.
