Atletico Madrid complete Dembele loan with €33.5 million purchase option

Atletico Madrid have completed the signing of Moussa Dembele, with the French forward joining the Spanish side on an initial loan deal with an option to buy.

Diego Simeone's side reached an agreement to sign Dembele earlier this week, with the forward undergoing a medical on Monday.

The clubs have worked out a deal to bring Dembele to Spain on loan with an option to buy for €33.5 million (£30m/$41m) with a potential €5 million (£4.5m/$6m) in bonuses. Atletico Madrid will pay a  €1.5m loan fee as part of the deal as well.

Dembele has spent the last two-and-a-half years with Lyon, having originally signed from Celtic for €22 million (£20m/$27m) in the summer of 2018.

The French forward has scored 45 goals in 108 appearances for the Ligue 1 side during that period, and helped the French club to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019-20.

However, with transfer rumours swirling, Lyon sporting director Juninho admitted that Dembele's motivation levels have dropped in recent months.

He told Telefoot: "Moussa thinks that this is the moment to change teams, that he has lost a bit of motivation. This was not something we foresaw, I like him a lot. I think that Moussa has found an agreement with Atletico.”

Dembele has scored just once in 16 appearances this campaign, having hit the 20-goal mark in each of his first two seasons with Lyon.

The French club has already closed in on a replacement for the outgoing forward, signing Islam Slimani from Leicester.

Slimani heads to France following a trio of loan spells away from Leicester, having played for Newcastle, Fenerbahce and Monaco in recent seasons.

The Algerian, who has appeared just once for Leicester this season, scored nine goals in 19 appearances for Monaco in 2019-20.

Lyon currently sit top of Ligue 1, one point ahead of both Paris Saint-Germain and Lille.

Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, also sit first in their league as Dembele joins up, with Simeone and co currently maintaining a four-point lead over Real Madrid with two games in hand.

After taking down Sevilla on Tuesday, Atletico Madrid have over a week off before playing host to Eibar on January 21.