Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has been heavily paired with a move to Barcelona this summer, but his current club are reportedly doing their best to ensure he stays.
The French international has enjoyed another stellar campaign this year, scoring 27 goals and providing 14 assists in 46 appearances in all competitions.
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He’ll hope to round it off with a trophy in the form of the Europa League as Atleti have booked their place in the final against Marseille on May 16, but his future has been a subject of intense speculation for months.
As noted by Sky Sports, the 27-year-old has a €100m release clause, and Barcelona club president Josep Bartomeu confirmed this week that he did hold talks with his representatives in October to sound out a potential move to the Nou Camp.
That raises question marks in itself given Barcelona already have the likes of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho to fill the attacking positions in the side.
Further, coach Ernesto Valverde has seemingly found a great balance in the side this season, which has led them to doing the domestic double with the La Liga title and Copa del Rey, albeit that did come with the disappointing exit from the Champions League.
In turn, where Griezmann would fit in remains to be seen, but Atletico are seemingly concerned about the potential of losing the 27-year-old, as Marca report that club president Enrique Cerezo has held talks with him in a bid to persuade him to prolong his stay at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Whether there’s enough to convince him to stay remains to be seen, but until a definitive answer is provided by one of the parties in question, it’s more than likely that rumours over his future will continue to rumble on.