Antoine Griezmann has signed a contract extension with Atletico Madrid until June 2022 thereby destroying Jose Mourinho’s hopes of getting him to join Old Trafford.
According to a report by ESPN, long-time Manchester United target Antoine Griezmann has extended his contract with Atletico Madrid until June 2022. Griezmann, whose previous deal was supposed to finish by June 2021, has been on Mourinho’s radar for a while but the Frenchman has chosen to remain under Diego Simeone for now.
Griezmann’s release clause of €100 million will remain the same and the new deal will make him the highest-paid player at Atletico which goes to show how badly the club wanted to retain the prolific forward.
Despite the unfortunate turn in events for Manchester United, the club is believed to maintain an interest in Griezmann and are likely to push for an offer later at some stage during next year.
The French international received an onslaught of offers from high-profile clubs this summer but it was earlier reported that he is likely to reject them and continue and Atletico.
Griezmann has come a long way ever since he joined in Atletico Madrid in 2014 from Real Sociedad. He rose to prominence during the Euro 2016 wherein he racked impressive performances for France. The 26-year-old has established himself as one of the most talented forwards in Europe and with good reason.
This past season, Griezmann scored 26 goals and set up 12 more for the club in all competitions. The kind of pacy, attacking football he plays is something Jose Mourinho desires to see at United. Especially after the potential departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from the Red Devils, United need an attack-oriented forward.
In fact, Griezmann would’ve been an ideal fit. His 2015-16 campaign was particularly impressive and that was when he managed to finish third in the Ballon d’Or vote behind Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
He was rumoured to move but that summer as well but instead signed a contract extension with Atletico which saw his buyout clause increase to €100million.
At present though, Griezmann’s decision to stay back will come as a major boost for Atletico since they cannot register any new players until January 2018 owing to a transfer ban by FIFA as punishment for breaching rules regarding business related to international transfers of players aged under 16.
Meanwhile, Atletico are still pursuing an interest in signing their former striker Diego Costa, who managed to score 26 goals in 46 games across competitions last season as Chelsea launched a magnificent bid to win the Premier League title.
