Watch: What happened when Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann joined Manchester United on FIFA 17

What’s the story?

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann have been on Manchester United’s transfer radar for quite some time now, with Gareth Bale especially being a target since the David Moyes days. Thus, it is a given that if either of the two ends up joining the Red Devils, the Manchester United faithful will be in a meltdown.

Dreamteam FC uncovered that FIFA 17 YouTuber, BMOnus created this fantasy scenario on FIFA 17 using the career mode feature where he transferred both the Spain-based players to the Manchester club.

In case you didn’t know...

Gareth Bale has been linked with a move to Manchester United since David Moyes took over in 2012. Moyes’s vain search for a marquee signing ended with the highly overpriced signing of Marouane Fellaini.

Griezmann too has been linked with a United move for while now and he would be a much-needed acquisition considering the Red Devils' goal-scoring struggles this season.

The heart of the matter

One would expect a team with such an all-star attack to dominate proceedings in Europe too

Manchester United lined up in an attacking 4-3-3 with Bale, Griezmann and Anthony Martial playing upfront. The Red Devils won the Premier League in the first season with the two world-class forwards in attack, finishing 9 points above 2^nd placed Spurs.

Surprisingly though, neither Bale nor Griezmann was one of the top scorers; an honour which was reserved for Paul Pogba with 21 goals.

Gareth Bale turned out to be something of a flop with just the solitary goal in 19 appearances while Griezmann fared a little better with 8 goals in 26 appearances; neither justifying the hype surrounding their performances.

What’s next?

One would expect a team with such an all-star attack to dominate proceedings in Europe too, but that was not the case. With both Bale and Griezmann underwhelming, Manchester United could not reach the Champions League finals after being knocked out in the semi-finals of the tournament by Bayern Munich.

Author’s Take

Gareth Bale’s transfer to Manchester United looks unlikely as ever but there seems to be a high chance of Griezmann plying his trade at Old Trafford come the 2017-18 season. This experiment is a good indicator of what Manchester United could eventually achieve once they manage to assemble their own star-studded squad.