Chelsea FC have started preparing for next season now that they have achieved their objective of winning the league title.
According to The Guardian, the newly crowned Premier League champions are considering a bid for Antoine Griezmann.
In his first season with the Vicente Calderon outfit, Griezmann has 22 goals and an assist in the league to his name. He is third in the scoring charts in the Spanish league behind Cristiano Ronaldo (42) and Lionel Messi (20).
The 24 year-old signed for Atletico for A?23 million last summer.
Chelsea’s interest in the Atletico players is not new. They got the trio of Diego Costa, Filipe Luis and Thibaut Courtois (who to be fair, is their player in the first place) last season. The same report goes on to say that Mourinho is also interested in Toby Alderweireld, an Atletico player who has spent this season on loan at Southampton. Reports earlier this season also claimed that the Portuguese was intend on signing midfielder Koke from the Rojiblancos in the summer.
It is believed that Atletico are looking to offer Griezmann a lucrative new contract, just one year after his move, which would see his release clause rise from A?43m to A?70m, in an effort to block Chelsea from poaching their main goal scoring threat.
Griezmanna s two goals against Elche saw him outscore Karim Benzemaa s total of 21 goals in the 2011/12 season to become the top-scoring Frenchman in a single Liga season.
Even if Griezmann doesn’t sign the new contract, Chelsea won’t get the services of the France international for any lesser than the release clause of A?43m.
In any case, it is extremely unlikely that the former Real Sociedad player will switch clubs just one year after his move, especially since he seems to be enjoying playing at the Madrid side.
