After months of grinding away results with a squad on the brink of collapse due to various injuries, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho’s biggest gamble of his career paid off. Ever since discarding any pretences of considering the final few Premier League games relevant to his season, winning the Europa League final to qualify for the Champions League has seen the Portuguese manager vindicated.
He knew a top four finish was going to be tough with his key players hobbling around on crutches. The final in Stockholm was all he had his eyes on – the only route back into Europe in a highly competitive Premier League. It wasn’t a pretty game but it was the classic, pragmatic Mourinho – doing enough to win trophies. “Poets don’t win titles,” he said after the game to underline his authority on being the antithesis of beautiful football.
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The win now gives the Red Devils an advantage in the transfer market. They’ve been on the outside looking in in previous seasons following Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit and Mourinho was hired for the sole reason of being competitive again both domestically and in Europe.
Which brings us to their main transfer target who has been linked for ages – Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann.
Will Griezmann sign for Manchester United?
“I want to win trophies. I've come to a point where I play really well and score goals but it's not enough. That's it.” – Griezmann
Sadly, Atletico seemed to have reached their peak under Diego Simeone who simply cannot sustain his squad long enough to challenge on all fronts over a season. With 18 injuries to boot this season, Atletico have underwhelmed with a Champions League semi-final being both their highlight and lowest ebb of the season.
When Griezmann was asked about his future at the release of his autobiography, the Frenchman said: “I’ll see what the club will do. It depends on transfers. If I have to move today it will be no problem. It could be to England because that's fashionable, to Germany, China or the United States. I'm ready to go.”
The last part of that quote suggests he was also being sarcastic. He’s only 26 and does not come across as the player willing to move to China just for the eye-watering wages. And the MLS is a retirement home for European players.
Atletico Madrid have a major problem in that they are banned from making any new signings this summer. After breaking laws with respect to signing international U-16 players, both Real and Atletico were handed a 12-month ban in January. However, Real’s ban was reduced following an appeal and they will be allowed to sign players this summer.
Should the Rojiblancos fail to get the ban overturned, Griezmann will most likely be set to stay. His current contract expires in 2021 and he has a release clause of €100m (£86.5m).
Also read: Atletico president Enrique Cerezo doesn’t expect Manchester United to match Griezmann's €100m clause
But United will do everything they can to give Mourinho the players he wants. For a manager who has spent more than a billion pounds in his career, spending another £86.5m for a world class player is not out of the question. And United’s commercial income is the highest in the Premier League – approximately £90m more than their closest competitor.
Also, United received £143.6m from Premier League TV revenue alone. So it’s safe to say that activating the release clause will not cause the club’s board to flinch.
What Griezmann’s arrival would mean for United’s squad
If Griezmann does sign (and possibly accept the currently vacant no.7 shirt – the same number he wears for Atletico and France), Mourinho will be expected to make a number of changes to the lineup.
For starters, it would definitely spell the end of Wayne Rooney’s career at Old Trafford. Although Mourinho said after the final that he would be happy if Rooney stayed at the club, it is highly unlikely that he would play a key role. He may be only 31 years old but his fitness levels are nowhere close to the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is 35 but still plays like he is 29.
Ibrahimovic’s future is also another factor that will be considered. His contract ends this summer and there is no news yet on a new deal. The season-ending knee injury threw a spanner in the works and United may not gamble on his fitness and ability to bounce back quickly.
As it stands, he may not make the start of the season which throws pre-season preparation into jeopardy.
Where will Griezmann play?
However, if Ibrahimovic does continue at Old Trafford for another year, Griezmann would be best suited to the secondary striker role that has been responsible for his meteoric rise in the last couple of seasons. Euro 2016 saw him win the Golden Boot with six goals when he was deployed as a no.10 behind Olivier Giroud.
Griezmann can play on the wing – as we have seen before in his time at Real Sociedad where he scored 20 goals playing on the wing in his final season at the Anoeta Stadium. But his rise to the top of the goalscoring charts came when Simeone played him in the role of a no.9 and, later, a no.10 in a 4-4-2 system.
At United, the wings are already taken care of as is the position of the primary striker. Should Ibrahimovic leave Old Trafford, Mourinho has enough confidence in Marcus Rashford to lead the line. His pace and directness would complement Griezmann’s creativity in the middle. The Frenchman has an eye for a pass and thrives when the squad around him is built with mobility and pace in mind.
Mourinho has never trusted Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to play in the no.10 role on a consistent basis so they would be pushed to the right wing. If Anthony Martial does enough to impress Mourinho, he will play on the left next season. But knowing Mourinho, he may have already lined up another transfer target to give Martial some competition.
With France teammate Paul Pogba and combative midfielder Ander Herrera behind him, Griezmann would be relieved of any defensive duties apart from pressing opponents high up the pitch. In attack, he will station himself between the lines where he is adept at keeping the ball and holding on to it while bringing teammates into play. The no.10 role would suit him perfectly.
A long summer awaits football fans but Manchester United fans, in particular, will have a lot to look forward to – especially in the incoming transfers department. “Ed Woodward has my list – what I want, what I would like – for more than two months,” Mourinho said. He’s done his job; it is now up to the board to make it happen.
