Atletico Madrid could increase sought-after attacker Antoine Griezmann's release clause to €100 million as part of a policy of "protecting the club's assets," according to president Enrique Cerezo.
Griezmann, 24, has been linked with many of Europe's top clubs through recent months, including Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and local rivals Real Madrid, and his current deal which runs until 2020 includes a clause of €80m.
On Thursday, AS claimed that the Calderon outfit planned to offer Griezmann, who joined Atletico in summer 2014 from Real Sociedad, a pay rise which would see that figure jump to a world-record-equalling sum.
La portada de este jueves: Griezmann, cláusula anti Real Madrid https://t.co/5H8ntDRhUz pic.twitter.com/ZvsQs5f2IW
- AS (@diarioas) January 14, 2016
That report came before Atletico and city rivals Real Madrid were banned from signing new players during the summer 2016 and winter 2017 transfer windows.
In-form France international Griezmann took his season's tally to 16 goals when he scored twice after entering as a second-half substitute in Thursday evening's 3-0 Copa del Rey win over Rayo Vallecano.
Speaking to AS after the game, Los Colchoneros chief Cerezo said that while he had no direct knowledge of new contract talks with Griezmann's camp, the idea made sense to him.
"We must protect our assets, which are the players," he said. "I imagine there will be negotiations about upping the clause, but the truth is I don't know."
Atletico may be less likely to sell should their appeal against the FIFA ban fail, but the club have been stocking up on attackers with Jackson Martinez, Fernando Torres, Angel Correa, Luciano Vietto, Yannick Carrasco and Rafael Santos Borre all joining in the last 18 months.
Atletico also have many promising youngsters including midfielders Saul Niguez, Matias Kranevitter and Koke, plus centre-back Jose Maria Gimenez -- and Cerezo said he did not expect any immediate moves into the current winter window to bolster the squad.
"The seasons are very long, and you always need players, but fortunately we have a deep squad, good, with very young players," he said. "We will be able to get through these two windows during which we cannot sign. It is a very young group and I believe we can fix this problem."
The club were set to appeal once they had identified alleged mistakes in FIFA's reasoning, the film producer said.
"It is a bad punishment and we are going to appeal of course," Cerezo said. "We believe we are right, and inside the 110 pages of this punishment we will have to read it well to see exactly where are the points where we believe they are mistaken, which we believe are many.
"It is not normal what has happened at FIFA. FIFA must fulfil their obligations, and we also fulfil ours, which is to defend ourselves, and we will do that."