Atlético Madrid superstar and Chelsea FC target Antoine Griezmann has quashed talks of a potential move away from the Spanish capital as he insisted that he wants to continue his football at the Vicente Calderón.
France international Antoine Griezmann has been one of La Liga’s brightest attacking talents for the past couple of seasons and as a consequence, has drawn covetous looks from some of Europe’s top clubs — including Chelsea.
The Stamford Bridge outfit have been strongly linked with the forward in recent transfer windows, and the 24-year-old is understood to be one of the club’s top transfer targets in the event that Eden Hazard is sold this summer.
In what will come as a blow to Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea hierarchy, Griezmann has committed his immediate future to Atlético Madrid, claiming that he is happy at the club and that he will not leave in the near future.
The former Real Sociedad attacker is quoted by Mail Online as saying: “I’m fine here, I’m at ease. I want to continue here and I think the club’s intention is not to sell, so I’m not going.”
Griezmann is contracted to Atlético till 2020, and there has been talk that his €80 million release clause could be increased to €100 million in an attempt to protect the club’s most valuable asset in the light of a potential FIFA transfer ban.
Antoine Griezmann speaks out on talk of a possible Chelsea move https://t.co/dHRH81vhP2 pic.twitter.com/1lXEj7oOm0
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) February 11, 2016
Griezmann central to Simeone’s plans for the future
Atlético Madrid have been blessed to have had some of the world’s best strikers on their books in recent years, including the likes of Fernando Torres, Diego Forlan, Sergio Agüero, Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa. However, Diego Simeone does not currently have an out-and-out forward of the same ilk at the club.
Greizmann, who is primarily a second striker, has been involved in 15 of Atléti’s 34 league goals this season, and is by far the side’s biggest attacking threat. His intelligent movement in the final third and his clinical finishing are absolutely crucial for Simeone, given that the team is not nearly as free-scoring as the two super-clubs they wish to challenge.
Griezmann is as important to Simeone’s side as Hazard is to Chelsea — if not more so — and it would take a truly enormous transfer offer for the club to even consider selling him this summer.
