Signing Hancko would have meant an annual cost of €16m between salary and transfer fee for Atletico, as per Marca, and they decided that was not possible in their salary limit this summer. Lenglet will cost Atletico ‘just’ €4m this season. The 29-year-old is on a contract until 2026 at Barcelona, and reportedly has an annual salary of €16m gross, meaning Barcelona are paying €12m of his salary, unless he has decided to forego some of that money.

There have also been reports that Lenglet has extended his contract for an extra year to spread out the cost of his salary by an extra year, in which case the Blaugrana would be paying €6.7m for Lenglet this season, but that extension is yet to be confirmed by the club.

Lenglet’s large contract has been an issue for Barcelona for some time, with the Frenchman spending the last two seasons on loan at Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. Manager Hansi Flick was reportedly not against him remaining in the squad, but the financial impact has made it impossible for the Blaugrana.