Speculation is rife that Antoine Griezmann will leave Atletico Madrid at the end of this season, having ‘outgrown’ the club in many ways.
There’ll be no shortage of takers, with Real Madrid rumoured to be willing to shatter the pact that both clubs had signed previously where they agreed not to sign each other’s staff.
Theo Hernandez has already had a medical with Los Blancos and only a fee needs to be agreed for him to leave Atleti. Griezmann isn’t yet in that boat but it would make sense for him to give serious consideration to any approach from Los Rojiblancos’ fiercest rivals.
Trending
The Frenchman has aspirations to be the best and, frankly, he won’t achieve them at Atletico. Here are five reasons why he should move to Real:
#5 Money
Not too much point in denying the money side of any deal.
Of course, professional reasons will be the main point of any move for the Frenchman but a significant hike in salary comes as part of the package. If he’s able to provide financial security for himself and his family, it’s a no-brainer.
Rivalries have to be forgotten about. This is his job. If an employer came to you and promised to double your money for doing the same job, and enhance your career prospects at the same time, you’re not going to turn them down, are you?!
Just how much filthy lucre Griezmann could make from the deal would likely be down to the skill of his agent, but it’s a certainty that it’ll be more than he’s on at the Vicente Calderon.
#4 Ballon d’Or credentials
Though he shared a podium with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the last Ballon d'Or awards, no one really expected Griezmann to get the gong.
He’d had a very good season, but it still paled in comparison when compared to Ronaldo’s. Getting to the Champions League final with Atleti and the Euro 2016 with France ended with career and individual disappointment.
By joining a club where he can only get better, Griezmann’s chances of winning the ultimate individual accolade will only improve.
Though most players have to adopt the party line of football being a team game and the award goes to the squad etc., no one is under any illusions that the winner of the golden ball wants it for themselves. Recognition of being the best.
That’s what Griezmann wants, and will surely get if he takes up residence on the white half of Madrid.
#3 Better quality across the squad
Though many laughed when Zinedine Zidane said a year or so ago that he had ‘the best squad in the world,’ no one is laughing now.
Man for man, the only outfield player from Atletico’s squad that you could readily say would be able to break into a Real XI would be Griezmann. The Rojiblancos do have some decent players in Jan Oblak – who’d give Keylor Navas a run for his money – and Diego Godin for example, but arguably Los Blancos have ‘best in the world’ contenders for a number of their positions.
They are on the verge of a historic Champions League and La Liga double for a reason. Their staff, in particular, Sergio Ramos, have played at the very highest level possible, week in and week out during 2016/17. The same can’t be said for Atleti.
Playing alongside them can only enhance Griezmann’s own game.
#2 Bigger club
Atletico Madrid fans will always disagree but there is little doubt that Real are a bigger club than their local rivals.
Los Colchoneros unveiled a tifo in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final which read ‘glad to not be like you’ and maybe that is just the way they like it; everything that Real stand for, Atleti do not.
Yet it is an inescapable fact that Real have a bigger income, a far bigger stadium, have won more trophies and can attract better players.
Compared to them, Atleti are always the ‘nearly men.’ As two Champions League finals and the most recent semi-final have proved. On the pitch or off of it, there is no real comparison, and the wins that Atleti have managed since the Copa del Rey final victory doesn’t change that.
#1 Taking over Ronaldo’s mantle
Quite possibly the best reason of all. There’s no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is the King of the Bernabeu, but despite his prophecy that he’ll still be playing at the highest level by the time he is 41, the likelihood is he has 2-3 years left in him at best.
Though he has lost a yard of pace and is nowhere close to the player of 18 months ago, the Portuguese has reverted to a more old-fashioned centre-forward who is repaying his club in goals.
However, Greizmann brings much more than that to the party and at just 26 years of age, is six years younger than Ronaldo. As age begins to bite Real’s talisman, they will need someone else to take over the mantle.
Who better than the Frenchman, who brings goals, assists, superb team play and unselfishness? Becoming the focal point of everything good that Real would do going forward is something that can only seduce Griezmann.
