Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is reportedly plotting a massive bid for Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann in order to beat Manchester United to his signing.
The 25-year-old has developed into one of the leading stars in Europe with his displays and goals for both Atleti and France in recent years, and in turn it’s no surprise that clubs are queueing up to try and sign him.
According to French website Mercato 365, Abramovich is desperate to get to the front of that line, as he believes that he is the perfect player to bolster the Chelsea squad and turn them into legitimate contenders both at home and abroad.
It’s added in the report that Griezmann has an £80m release clause and so it will take a sizeable offer to take him to Stamford Bridge, while United are also keen on signing him and will provide competition for their Premier League rivals.
Griezmann has six goals in 11 appearances so far this season, while he has 63 in 115 games since moving to the Spanish capital in 2014.
Meanwhile, Chelsea don’t have depth in that area with Diego Costa currently leading the goalscoring charts in the Premier League, which in turn has kept summer signing Michy Batshuayi on the fringes thus far.
With United also having their goals issues in recent weeks with Zlatan Ibrahimovic going through a barren run, it’s obvious as to why both clubs would be keen on snapping Griezmann up.
However, Atleti will not want to sell a player absolutely pivotal to their hopes of success moving forward, and so Abramovich and any other club interested will have to be willing to pay a significant fee to test their resolve and convince them to sell.