For the past season, Griezmann’s potential moves to Barcelona or to the Premier League had been a hot topic. It appeared that his days at Athletico Madrid were coming to a close and he did little to dampen the speculation. In fact, if anything he seemed to thrive in the various debates over whether he was moving on.
Despite the fact that he was with France for the World Cup, Griezmann stoked the transfer rumour fire by telling the world that he would reveal his decision by video. Liverpool fans may have got their hopes up at this point, as those with long memories will recall that Harry Kewell announced his move to Liverpool in the similar fashion. However, it was much ado about nothing in the end.
Griezmann announces that he will stay at Athletico
Griezmann revealed in his video last night that he would, in fact, be staying with current team Athletico Madrid. Having won the Europa League with them this year, he may have seen the trophy as proof that he can achieve great things there. It just seems strange that he would cause so much speculation when he should be concentrating on the World Cup. Perhaps he was trying to drive up his financial package, or maybe he just enjoyed the attention. Either way, he has spoken out to tell the world that he will be staying put.
Big signings on the way?
It is thought that Griezmann had sought reassurances from Athletico that they would be ambitious in the transfer market to give them a better position to compete at the highest level next season. If this was the case then we can safely assume that the owners will be getting their chequebook out this summer to pay for some big signings.
With France starting their World Cup campaign tomorrow against Australia, it looks like their star striker can now turn his attention to playing for his country. Why he chose to play out a media drama in that fashion, we may never know!