Report: Barcelona offer Antoine Griezmann to two La Liga rivals

Antoine Griezmann has been strapped on a rollercoaster ride of a career ever since joining Football Club Barcelona. His career has been full of ups and downs: starting with the tumultuous documentary episode, in which he made a dramatic film of turning down Barça. Then, a lightning-quick start to life at Barça with a brace against Real Betis, followed by a mediocre first campaign.

However, the Frenchman’s tale of chaos, failure, and redemption entails him having enjoyed a resurgence in 2021. Finishing the season with an impressive tally of 19 goals and 12 assists, Griezmann has been among the highest performing attackers since January.

For Joan Laporta and his incumbent board members, the 30-year-old’s return to form has not been enough to convince them in keeping him a part of barça.

A recent report from Gol outlines that the new president is willing to offer Griezmann to two clubs in La Liga itself. While the World Cup winner brought himself back to life this season, the costs outweigh the benefits of keeping him on board for next season, according to the board.

With ridiculously high wages, it is highly cost-ineffective for the Blaugranas to keep him on without renegotiating the Frenchman’s wage structure.

However, if this does not happen, the club will likely search for an exit strategy for the former Atletico Madrid player. Recently, Laporta’s strong comments, amidst several other reports, indicate that he is looking to rebuild the squad top-to-bottom, and selling the French striker may be a part of his plans.

Alternative options such as Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, and Alexander Isak are a few of several replacement options that Ramon Planes has his eyes on if the Frenchman is to depart.

The two clubs that Laporta is looking to sell Griezmann to is Atletico Madrid or Athletic Bilbao. A transfer to Bilbao for the Frenchman would likely be against their philosophy, in which they only recruit players born in the Basque region of Spain, or those who were raised in a Basque club’s football academy.

Perhaps given Griezmann’s roots in Real Sociedad, then, this signing may be deemed viable by Bilbao, who are currently looking for a good media signing for revenue streams.

Atletico Madrid is another equally unlikely, but outlined destination for the Frenchman. As a matter of fact, with recent reports surfacing that the Blaugrana would like to carry out an exchange operation for Griezmann and Joao Felix, Atletico’s president recently spoke to Vamos, claiming that such an operation was totally fabricated by the media.

It seems then, with the French national’s excessively high wages and long-term contract at the Camp Nou, he will likely remain in Catalonia. Given his impeccable fitness, ever-improving mindset, and resurgence this year, he may well make for a valuable addition in the squad.

Moreover, it is important for Barça to possess great attacking depth, meaning that they cannot only rely on Lionel Messi all season long as they have done so.

With Griezmann’s upward trend in performances likely to continue throughout next season, keeping him on and signing alternative options in Memphis Depay or Sergio Aguero would only work to benefit the club in the short and long run.

Attacking depth like the one at Manchester City (who possess six different players who have goal tallies of over ten throughout the season) is crucial in modern football, where physical aspects are ever-improving and fixture schedules are totally jam-packed. Thankfully, the French star has also accepted his less important role at Barça.

While he was undeniably the centre of Atletico’s football (as well as for France), he is more often than not accommodating spaces for Messi every time he takes to the pitch. Nevertheless, his effectiveness and tactical intelligence have allowed him to succeed even in a less important and varying role in the team.

Griezmann’s dedication to the team and sincerity to listen to his coach makes him an invaluable player for any team, paired of course with his world-class skills and intelligence.