What’s the story?
Barcelona are set to break the bank for Manchester United target Antoine Greizmann as reported by Spanish outlet Deportivo Mundo. The Atletico de Madrid striker was quoted saying yesterday that “It is every player's dream to play for a big club like Real Madrid, Barcelona or for Bayern Munich”.
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The fee for the 26-year-old Frenchman is reported to be around the €110 million, more than Manchester United played for another French star in Paul Pogba.
In case you didn’t know..
Antoine Griezmann has been one of the top players in Europe for the past couple of seasons, having made the shortlist for FIFA Player of the Year, and was third behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or winners list.
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The Atletico Madrid center forward has scored a staggering 29 goals this season for club and country, assisting a further 11 this season.
The heart of the matter
The French international was one of those unlikely to move to Barcelona, as they are direct rivals to Atletico Madrid in the La Liga and the Champions League. However, his comments have inflated the interest from Barcelona.
Although the front three of MSN (Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar) is the best in the world, Lionel Messi’s best position going ahead seems to be with strikers and runners ahead of him. So it does make sense for Barcelona to look for another quality striker.
What’s Next?
The former Real Sociedad has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in the past, and they were touted as favourites to land the Frenchman with his pal Paul Pogba also at Old Trafford. However, with the complications with Champions League qualification still not secured by the Manchester giants, Antoine might be compelled to look elsewhere and Barcelona is not a bad place to play your football.
Author’s Take
It seems to be quite the coincidence that reports of Barcelona wanting to sign Antoine Griezmann pops up the day after he talks up playing for them. There might not be a lot of truth in the rumours at the moment, but Griezmann is a player Barcelona might look at in the long term to replace Lionel Messi in the team.
Also, as mentioned above, with the evolution of Messi’s game, it wouldn’t hurt having Antoine Griezmann on one flank and Neymar on the other flank to pass to.
