Griezmann to stay with Atletico?

When Real Madrid or Barcelona come calling, most players or managers will listen. It seems that in the case of Antoine Griezmann, he looks set to turn his back on a substantial offer to play his football for the Catalan giants in favour or remaining loyal to Atletico and Diego Simeone.

The striker who is currently on international duty with the French national side, has been linked with Barcelona for some time now, and despite appearing to say goodbye to the Atletico faithful in their final La Liga clash of the season, reports in Spain are suggesting he could be about to make a U-turn on his decision and remain loyal to the club he has been with since 2014.

Griezmann has a buyout clause of £87.5m which Barcelona were prepared to meet, however in a last ditch effort to keep him, Atletico offered £8.75m a season more than Barcelona were prepared to pay the Frenchman. This would make him the highest earner in the history of the club at £22m per year.

Both the player and the clubs want the issue resolved before the start of the World Cup on the 14 June, Barcelona officially giving the player a deadline of two weeks to make his decision.

Griezmann bagged 30 goals and 13 assists for the Madrid team last season, underlining his importance to the team. It is also well documented that he has a very strong relationship with manager Diego Simeone, who despite giving him his blessing to leave, would desperately like to keep hold of him.

It appears that Simeone might have his way on this transfer saga, after reports surfaced that Griezmann has apparently informed close friends that he will remain with Atletico and sign an extension to his contract.