Griezmann will leave Atlético Madrid this summer
Antoine Griezmann has long been the subject of transfer speculation, with links to Barcelona refusing to disappear.
Last summer, the Frenchman teased Atlético fans for months before releasing a documentary film in which he confirmed that he would indeed be staying.
While the club and their fans were pleased to have kept hold of their best player, the uncertainty around his future caused unrest. It wasn’t an episode that the club wanted to repeat.
It was revealed this week that Griezmann will indeed leave Atlético this summer, but in a much more direct, no-nonsense fashion, as the club tweeted: “Antoine Griezmann has told the club that he will not continue as a Rojiblanco next season.”
.@AntoGriezmann ha comunicado al club que no seguirá como rojiblanco la próxima temporada.
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) May 14, 2019
A short video followed, but it was nothing quite like what we saw last summer.
.@AntoGriezmann: "Han sido cinco años increíbles; muchas gracias por todo, os llevo en el corazón". pic.twitter.com/9XorY05u1T
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) May 14, 2019
Reports have since emerged claiming that Griezmann was in fact filming another documentary, in which he would announce his decision to leave the club after five incredible years, but the club nipped this in the bud by beating him to the annoucement.
According to Spanish radio station: “The reason why it was published so quickly that Griezmann is leaving through a video on the club’s official account is because they were preparing another documentary to announce that he was leaving.”
📻 🚨 Informa @manucarreno
El motivo por el cual ayer se publicó tan rápido que Griezmann se marchaba a través de un vídeo en las cuentas oficiales del club es porque estaban preparando OTRO DOCUMENTAL para anunciar que se marchabahttps://t.co/hebauP2LYV pic.twitter.com/aXJNBXYK71
— El Larguero (@ellarguero) May 15, 2019
Unlucky, Antoine.
Still, the World Cup winner will not be short of options this summer as he embarks on the next chapter of his career. Barcelona seem like the most likely destination for him, as Luis Suarez reaches that point of the metaphorical hill from which there is no return.
Once Suarez is fully over the hill, Griezmann would be a good fit in the middle of Barça’s front line. Plus, if he signs, Barcelona can use an appropriate acronym their new front three, an inexplicably popular phenomenon in Spain: (O)usmane Dembélé, Lionel (M)essi and Antoine (G)riezmann.
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