Antoine Griezmann has been fluttering his eyelashes at the receptive folk at Manchester United for months, rating his chances of joining United as seven out of ten in a recent TV interview. (He did add that there was a 60% chance of his staying at Atleti, but that, nor his dodgy Maths, made the headlines).
It had seemed an inevitability that United would get their man, as they did with Paul Pogba last season. Events today, however, would suggest that United are likely to miss out on their main transfer target, just a week after Jose Mourinho announced he was off on holiday, and when he returned, Ed Woodward had better have done his bidding.
Atletico's transfer ban was upheld by CAS today, meaning that they were unlikely to want to let anyone leave in this summer's transfer window. Griezmann, however, has a release clause, that United were willing to meet, meaning all that would keep the Frenchman at the club would be his will.
That has transpired. James Ducker of The Times reported today that United ended their interest in signing Griezmann, with injury to Ibrahimovic forcing them to look primarily for a no.9, rather than a no.10 like Griezmann. This is curious: they had surely planned on the possibility of Zlatan leaving - he had signed a one-year contract - and it's not like they don't have the money to sign both.
In spite of all that, Griezmann took to social media tonight to seemingly confirm that he is staying on at Atleti.
The caption translates as "Now more than ever #Atleti":
Ahora más que nunca #Atleti #Todosjuntos 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/nfxcwInM2B
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) June 1, 2017
Now more than ever we hope that's the story dead.
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