Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague believes that Man Utd will be left disappointed in their pursuit of Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann this summer.
Speculation has been rife that the Red Devils will move for the French international at the end of the season, and given their spending power last year with the signing of Paul Pogba, money wouldn’t seem too much of an issue.
However, the problem lies in the fact that Balague expects Griezmann to stay in the Spanish capital along with coach Diego Simeone and with new contract talks expected, it could lead to making it very difficult for United in terms of prising him away from Atleti.
“Simeone WILL stay,” he told Sky Sports. “And Atletico believe Griezmann when he says he will stay next season. For the club, there is no issue and the plan is to give him a new contract during the summer with a bigger buy out clause than the 100 million Euros that he has now.”
That will be a huge setback for the Premier League giants, as ultimately the bigger the release clause and the longer the contract, the more power it gives to Atleti in negotiations and could scupper any chance of signing Griezmann.
With 24 goals and 11 assists in 44 appearances in all competitions so far this season, the 26-year-old has again proven his quality this year and it looks as though he could be staying at Atletico for the foreseeable future, leaving Jose Mourinho with no option but to look elsewhere for his marquee signing this summer.