Barcelona have enjoyed a successful season this year, but that hasn’t stopped transfer speculation linking them with a significant addition to the squad in the summer.
The Catalan giants have secured the La Liga title and Copa del Rey double, and so coach Ernesto Valverde has undoubtedly found a good balance in his squad to achieve results.
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Nevertheless, their Champions League exit was an obvious disappointment, and so there is still arguably room for improvement for the Spanish tactician and his players.
According to COPE, that could come in the form of a quality new piece in the attacking third as it’s claimed that Barcelona have told Atletico Madrid that they will pay the €100m release clause in Antoine Griezmann’s contract.
The 27-year-old French international has enjoyed another impressive campaign, as he’s scored 27 goals and provided 14 assists in 46 appearances in all competitions.
That in turn has led to a potential second place finish in La Liga, while the capital club will face Marseille in the Europa League final on May 16 for a chance of silverware too.
The report even goes on to add that Griezmann will take the No.7 shirt at the Nou Camp next season, which seems to back the same theory which was put forward by AS in January when Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona and left the shirt number available having previously belonged to Arda Turan.
It remains to be seen if such a move materialises this summer, but it will give Valverde a real headache in terms of fitting all of his attacking stars into the line-up.
Should Griezmann join the Catalan outfit, that would leave him, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho all fighting for places in the starting XI.
Either Valverde will have to be a genius to get his rotation spot on or he’ll have to find a way to fit them all in at one time. Either way, according to COPE, Griezmann could be on his way with serious developments expected before the World Cup gets underway next month.