Antoine Griezmann reacts during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and RC Celta at Camp Nou on May 16, 2021, in Barcelona. (Photo by Pedro Salado/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
Barcelona want to avoid same mistake they made with Luis Suarez
Barcelona may have crossed out a potential suitor for Antoine Griezmann as the club are not keen on having the Frenchman go back to Atletico Madrid.
Griezmann was linked with a move back to his former club that would have seen midfielder Saúl Ñíguez go the other way. Despite initial optimism as it would solve issues on both sides, the prospects of a deal now seem remote.
According to Sport, the reason why a swap is seemingly no longer on the table is because Barcelona do not want to strengthen Atletico Madrid.
The Catalan giants do not want a repeat performance of what happened when they practically gave away Luis Suarez to Atletico.
As everyone knows by now, the way they got rid of the Uruguayan only served to fuel him and he was a big part as to why Atletico won the title last season.
However, with Barcelona’s main priority being to renew Lionel Messi, they may be reaching a “beggars can’t be choosers” scenario.
The club knows in order to make Messi’s renewal official, they need to stay within the wage limit imposed by LaLiga. As it stands, they exceed it, which means they need to get rid of a number of players.
Griezmann is a player who is on high wages who there is a market for. It’s not something they can say for the likes of Philippe Coutinho or Ousmane Dembélé, two other players Barcelona had hopes of selling.
While Griezmann’s preference is to stay, he has not completely closed the notion of possibly moving somewhere else. In addition to going back to his former club, Barcelona believe there could be suitors both in England and Italy.
Moving him won’t be easy as has been the case with other players the club is looking to offload. The wages are the biggest impediment to a deal. In Griezmann’s case, he also has to deal with the fact that he’s been one of the signings in the last few seasons that has produced but not so much that he’s indispensable.
He’s also made his intentions known. He wants to finish off the rest of his deal and then go to the United Stats and play in MLS. The only question now is whether he’ll finish his European adventure in Barcelona or a different club entirely.
