Barcelona edge closer to Antoine Griezmann summer signing after 'reaching agreement in principle'

Barcelona are said to have moved a step closer to landing Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid as their next marquee summer signing.

Mundo Deportivo claims that the La Liga giants have already reached an agreement in principle with the France international ahead of luring him to the Nou Camp on a five-year deal.

The report from the Catalans publication comes after French outlet Le 10 Sport also reported that both parties had already agreed the basic framework of the potential deal which will see Griezmann moving to Ernesto Valverde's side ahead of the 2018-2019 campaign.

The 26-year-old forward was poised to move to Manchester United during the last summer transfer window after admitting that his chances of moving to Old Trafford were "six out of ten"

However, Griezmann instead decided to commit his future to Atletico Madrid by signing a new long-term deal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) upheld their Fifa transfer embargo.

Barcelona were again linked with his services later in the summer following Neymar's shocking departure to Paris Saint-Germain.

But the Catalans were forced to delay their attempts to sign the Frenchman after learning that Atletico had increased his release clause from €100m (£89.9m, $118.3m) to €200m as part of the new deal.

That clause will be reduced to €100m again after 1 July 2018 and on 9 October Mundo Deportivo broke that the Catalans planned to take advantage of it to lure Griezmann to the Nou Camp, with Valverde having identified him as his his number one target ahead of next season.

United were also expected to battle for his services but reports in Spain say Barcelona have received a "positive response" from Griezmann's entourage.

It is understood that Barcelona plan to "act quickly" by clinching a verbal agreement with the player as soon as possible in order to avoid other clubs joining the battle.

And now the Catalan publications report that both parties having already reached an agreement in principle for the player to move to Barcelona at the end of the campaign.

Mundo Deportivo makes it clear that nothing has been signed yet but both Barcelona and Griezmann's entourage admit that the situation is "optimal" for the player to commit his future to the Nou Camp by putting pen to paper on a five-year deal.

Furthermore, they add that the negotiations with Atletico shouldn't be a problem as Barcelona will only need to trigger his €100m release clause from 1 July to complete the move.