La Liga might be sitting on a keg of gunpowder as a top player might move from an “unforgiving” club to one of their worst rivals. Antoine Griezmann plays for Atletico Madrid as their forward, talisman and is regarded as one of the best players in the World.
The French World Cup winner was awarded as the Third Best player in the World in 2016 after he played in the UEFA Champions League final and the Euro 2016 finals with France where he earned the silver medal in both competitions.
He weaved his name into the hearts of Atleti Ultras when he publicly humiliated top European clubs that wanted him with his outright rejection. Barcelona and Manchester United are bigger than Atletico Madrid but Griezmann stayed with Atletico especially when the Madrid club were hit with a transfer ban that prevented them from signing new players.
Now, the French star might have finally woken up to smell the coffee and realize that he should not be a big fish in a small pond. Greizmann won the UEFA Europa League with Atleti last season, his first career trophy before the UEFA Super Cup in August.
Meanwhile, Manchester United are looking like the United of old and Barcelona are always Barcelona with Lionel Messi leading them to further glory. According to reports, Griezmann is looking for a move away from the team that brought him to prominence and he is willing to turn the Atleti fans against him to achieve his dream.
Antoine Griezmann’s entourage sent a message to Barcelona reigniting the old transfer saga before Atletico Madrid’s dramatic Champions League exit at the hands Juventus. The Madrid team were supposed to be at an advantage over the Champions League favourites so why would Griezmann want to force a move away?
The 27-year-old Atletico forward famously spurned Barcelona’s advances to remain in the Spanish capital last summer, after a very public saga that culminated in a televised announcement programme from Griezmann (and produced by Gerard Pique) entitled ‘La Decisión’.
Griezmann then signed a new contract extension the Wanda Metropolitano, seemingly putting an end to the speculation. However, in recent weeks the prospect of a Griezmann transfer has flared up again with rumours that the World Cup winner is unhappy at Atletico and is considering his future anew.View image on Twitter
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Previous reports claimed that Griezmann had offered himself to Europe’s elite, but Barça still smarting from last summer’s public rejection had moved on and were not considering a bid
That may have changed now however as Mundo Deportivo claim that the player still ‘dreams’ of Barcelona, while his entourage sent signals to Camp Nou apologizing for last year’s snub and making it clear that he wants a move now.
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Interestingly, the supposed olive branch supposedly came before Atleti were knocked out of the Champions League on 12 March. As a result, Barça are not ruling out a summer transfer for Griezmann and, as MD puts it in a separate report, have him on ‘standby’.
In theory, Barcelona would prefer a younger, cheaper striker this summer who can act as backup and eventual successor to Luis Suarez. Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt, Andre Silva in Sevilla and Maxi Gomez of Celta Vigo have all been linked with some regularity.
One Barcelona legend has even suggested that the Catalan club sign a youngster from abroad with Marcus Rashford of Manchester United suggested.
Still, MD note that Ernesto Valverde was ‘crazy’ about Griezmann last year, while the Catalans know they can land him without resistance by activating the €120m release clause – barring another embarrassing U-turn from the player.
Griezmann has scored 12 goals in 28 La Liga games this season, and over 100 in total in Spain’s top flight since his debut in 2010. Interestingly, however, both major Catalan newspapers MD and Sport (via SportWitness) got a result of 91% ‘against’, when polling fans on the idea of a signing Griezmann for Barcelona, highlighting the depth of ill-feeling following the summer’s debacle.
Thibaut Courtois played for Atletico Madrid before making a big money move to Chelsea. When the Belgian goalkeeper returned to ply his trade in Spain, he moved back to the Spanish capital but decided to sign for Atleti’s worst nightmare, Real Madrid.
Atleti ultras did not hide their feelings towards the World Cup star as they protested him outside the Wanda Metropolitano ahead of the Madrid derby in 2019. They screamed his name and called him a rat. As if that was not enough, they brought toy rats (and some real ones too) to the stadium which they threw at their former player when he came close to the stands.