Manchester United have lost out in their bid to sign Antoine Griezmann, says The Sun, with the paper claiming that Barcelona have agreed a deal to take the French frontman from Atletico Madrid at the end of the season.
It will set back the Spanish giants £86m but that will be a price worth paying to ensure they get Griezmann ahead of the Red Devils. United were heavily linked to the 26-year-old Gallic goalscorer last summer, but nothing came of the speculation and their acquisition in January of Alexis Sanchez may have signalled the end of their pursuit.
Either way, the Sun says that Griezmann is now definitely going to the Camp Nou after World Cup duty with France and will hook up with Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian wasn’t given the No.7 shirt when he arrived from Liverpool and that led many to speculate that it was being left vacant for Griezmann.
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That indeed seems to be the case with Spanish broadcaster TV3 reporting that Barcelona and Atletico have “come to an agreement” with the former meeting the Frenchman’s £86m buy-out clause.
To help fund the move, Barcelona are tipped to offload midfielder Denis Suarez and the Daily Express also believes that striker Paco Alcacer could be moved on to free up space in the dressing room.
Atletico head to the Camp Nou this weekend and it’s expected that the move will be finalised after the league clash, a match which will have a significant bearing on the title race with only four points separating the two sides following Atletico’s 4-0 drubbing of Leganes last night. And guess who scored all of Atletico’s goals? Antoine Griezmann.
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