Opinion | Pouting Paul Pogba and AWOL Antoine Griezmann show players and agents call the shots in football’s biggest transfers
- Several of the world’s top players are reported to be eyeing transfers this summer
- Man United are eager to retain their best player, but they may be left with little option but to sanction a switch
In the spring of 2017, Antoine Griezmann let Manchester United know he was interested in a move. All those little hints from Paul Pogba and Griezmann’s brother of a transfer to Manchester weren’t by chance and a very interested United had been advised that, short of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Griezmann was the next best.
Then Griezmann changed his mind.
Once his club, Atletico Madrid, were aware their transfer ban had been upheld, Griezmann called United and explained that he wanted to stay in Madrid. United saved face by saying they weren’t looking at him as a transfer target. Griezmann explained that it would be a “dirty move” to leave the club who were banned from signing new players and he had a point.
But he did get a vast new contract at a club where he was loved and continued to play under Diego Simeone, a coach who had changed his game by giving him a fighting spirit. Griezmann had arrived in Madrid with doubts, a bundle of potential signed for £25 million (US$31.1 million) from Real Sociedad in 2014.
Griezmann upped his game and his qualities attracted United and later Barcelona, yet he flirted so much with suitors that he annoyed the fans who paid his wages.