Antoine Griezmann looks almost certain to remain at Atletico Madrid, after Manchester United cooled their interest in signing him this summer.
As soon as United clinched their place in next season’s UEFA Champions League by winning the UEFA Europa League last month, it appeared to be just a matter of time before they added Griezmann to their squad. The speculation over such a transfer has been rumbling for several weeks, with the forward recently admitting there was a strong possibility of the move happening.
However, on what proved to be a dramatic day, on Thursday it was announced that the Court of Arbitration had rejected Atletico’s appeal against a transfer ban which was imposed on them for breaching rules on signing foreign players under the age of 18. This meant had they sold Griezmann, they would not be able to buy a replacement this summer.
Before this news broke it had been widely reported that, in any case, Jose Mourinho had cooled his interest in signing the France international. The 26-year-old has a release clause of £87million in his contract with Los Rojiblancos, but it is now claimed that United, whilst retaining an interest, will instead prioritise an out and out striker to replace the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
And to seemingly tie up the speculation surrounding the future of Griezmann, he himself posted an update on his Instagram account which translated to: “Now more than ever #Atleti #All together.” It would appear that the former Real Sociedad man may feel a debt of loyalty for Atletico, but this could yet be tested if a club were to meet the release clause in his contract.
