After what turned out to be their worst season in over a decade, Barcelona’s players are hard at it on the training pitch, and Antoine Griezmann in particular is excited to see what the future holds.
The French World Cup winner didn’t have the best of debut seasons with the Catalan club, but nor was it a complete disaster from a personal perspective.
With Ronald Koeman noting that he intends to get more out of Griezmann by playing him in his natural position, things are looking up.
Now that Lionel Messi has decided to stay too, that’s arguably an added bonus for the blaugranes, and Griezmann sees parallels in his relationships with the Argentinian and Kylian Mbappe.
“Similar to my relationship with [Kylian] Mbappe,” he said to RTL, cited by Sport.
“At the beginning we didn’t find each other with passes and I needed to time to build an understanding with him.
“Things with Messi are going to get better.”
When we consider just how much firepower Barca will have this season, even without Luis Suarez in situ – though he’s still yet to make a move to Juventus – on paper they’re frightening.
Could the 8-2 defeat against Bayern have actually been a long-overdue turning point?