ESPN pundit Gabriel Marcotti has weighed in on the Antoine Griezmann transfer saga by suggesting Manchester United could still have a glimmer of hope of hijacking the deal.
The France international has mostly been linked strongly with a move to Barcelona this summer, with Atletico Madrid’s CEO recently quoted by Sport as naming the Catalan giants as the player’s most likely next destination.
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However, Man Utd’s name has also come up, with a recent report from the Sun claiming the Red Devils could launch a late £95million bid for the former Real Sociedad man.
Griezmann would no doubt be a superb signing for United’s needs right now, with the 28-year-old surely a big step up from Alexis Sanchez in attacking midfield or Romelu Lukaku at centre-forward.
Marcotti admits there does seem to be a strange lack of certainty surrounding the proposed Barca move, and suggests the deal could be there for United to hijack if they went for it.
“Sure, if they want Griezmann they can go in all guns blazing,” Marcotti told ESPN FC, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
“I think it would help (Paul) Pogba obviously. But, you know what, they would have already been knocking on that door.
“It is an interesting one, people in Barcelona are saying ‘give it to July 1, July 1 the transfer market opens, Griezmann’s going to be announced’.
“They seem so, so sure of it and again officially you have to wait until July 1 to do this.
“But it’s weird that it’s kind of gone quiet on the Griezmann front. Maybe it’s tactical, I don’t know.
“Yeah, he would be a very good signing for United. Although they’d still need to shift some players obviously.”