How much will Atletico Madrid benefit from Antoine Griezmann ?

Antoine Griezmann

After some eye-catching performances with Real Socoiedad and France in the recent years, several opulent European clubs - Chelsea, Liverpool,Monaco and PSG espied the young and talented Frenchman, Antoine Griezmann and attempted to lure him away from Spain. However, the reports of Spanish champions Atletico Madrid successfully acquiring his services caught all footballing pundits on a hop.

Atletico Madrid were in dire straits after several prolific players- Diego Costa, David Villa, Adrian, Felipe Luis and Thibaut Cortois, all parted ways with the Spanish outfit. So keeping the task of a rebuild in mind, the Madrid side wasted no time in search of potential replacements as they won the race to sign him and sucessfully reached a £24 million deal for the attacking midfielder. Also the acquisition of Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich adequately bridging the gap left by Diego Costa, the Madrid side have fairly strengthened their attack and look to replicate their last season's success.

While all said and done, the question now arises as to how much robustness and stability will Griezmann bring to Atletico ?

A short perusal of Griezmann's 2013-14 season

Before we delve through his chances at Atletico, we glimpse back at the performances he put up for La Real. In 35 league appearances, he chalked up 16 goals that is equivalent to a goal in little over every 2 games, which is not bad for a midfielder of his age. Also, having provided 5 assists, he made as many as 31 key passes. Additionally, he had a shot accuracy of 60%, which made him lethal in front of goal but a mere 77% accurate passing was quite subduing.

He also failed to light up the spark in the Champions League when he did not manage to register a single goal in 6 appearances for his side in the Europe's elite competition. But under Simeone's stewardship and with better assistance at Atletico, his weak points are sure to be mitigated.

Analyzing the impact he'll be having at Atletico Madrid

Predominantly a goal scoring winger, his marauding runs and lightening fast dribbles can distract opposing players and is unforgiving inside the box. Given his great finesse across the forward line (on either side of the wings), he can dovetail easily with Altleti's Arda Turan in the attacking midfield or support strike role (behind the striker) and also provide the much needed reinforcement, after the departure of David Villa and Adrian from the frontline.

With the likes of Raul Garcia and Koke pulling the strings from the center, Griezmann can better his own goal tally with the support of such a formidable midfield and deputise for Costa's absence, besides just shouldering the responsibility of spraying passes to Mandzukic.

Whilst he can put up sublime performances in counter-attacking situations with his blistering runs, his penchant for cutting in opposition wall, doing layoffs, putting good crosses shows versatility of the player and a great vision, brilliant accuracy in front of goal makes him good enough to step up and captain the ship, when the striker fails. A plus point here is that these skills of his will provide Simeone with a diverse attacking option and need not try to attempt the thankless job of replicating Villa and Costa like-for-like.

A threat from the set-pieces

Coming down to deadball situations, the 23-year old was the 'set-piece chief' for La Real, having taken 35 free-kicks in the league last term. And whereas for Atletico, Koke was the preferred man for taking corners and while taking free-kicks from wide areas. For long range free-kicks and free-kicks from central areas, Gabi was the preferred man. But Antoine's exquisite displays in such situations will see the duos task cut down to some extent.

Also, having the knack of taking corner kicks, further reduces the burden. His terrific aerial skills makes him lethal from the recieving end as well.

Forming an attack partnership with Mandzukic

Just days before the arrival of Griezmann, the club had announced the signing of striker Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich. The 28-year old is more of a static no.9 compared to Costa, who would hunt for his own chances.

The Croatian international lacks movement, speed and aggression but possess lethal penalty-box instincts, aerial abilities and keeps possession in the attacking areas. Given the versatile capabilities, Griezmann can gel easily with the attacker, forming a fierceful striking partnership.

The adroit assistance of the Frenchman may also better Mandzukic's goal-scoring chances.

Inference

Having played in Spain for his entire career, it would'nt take much time for the 23-year old to acclimatize and may hit the ground running right from day one.

The arrival of Antoine Griezmann certainly has huge benefits, providing many new attacking options to Los Colchoneros. Perhaps, the revamped offensive triumvirate of Griezmann-Mandzukic-Turan may well be on the cards.

Atletico Madrid have a huge season ahead and a huge responsibility of leading them to further glory rests on the the Frenchman's shoulders. What's left to see is whether Griezmann bodes well with Simeone's machinations and how shrewdly he executes them.

Edited by Staff Editor