Man Utd-linked Barca superstar in turmoil after family piles in on snub
The future of Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann appears to be in doubt after his latest snub caused the player’s family to wade in.
The Frenchman, 29, developed into one of the world’s finest attacking threats during his stint with Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona came calling last summer, and snapped up Griezmann for a whopping €120 million after activating his release clause.
His debut season in Catalonia has not brought about the same levels of success, however, with Griezmann frequently being benched since football’s return from the coronavirus pandemic.
The situation ratcheded up a notch last night, after the World Cup winner was again benched versus his former club in a vital LaLiga clash.
Despite Lionel Messi notching his 700th career goal, Barcelona were held to a damaging 2-2 draw, thereby handing bitter rivals Real Madrid a major boost in the race to become domestic champions.
Griezmann was subtituted on late into the piece, and given just two minutes to impress as the clock wound down.
Responding to the snub by Barcelona boss Quique Setien, Griezmann’s brother, Theo, tweeted (via ESPN): “I feel like crying, seriously” and then added “two minutes…”.
His father, Alain, also weighed in on his son’s situation, stating via Instagram: “In order to apologise you first need the the keys of the lorry and that is not the case, because he is simply a passenger.”
Both posts were ultimately deleted, but seemed to echo the thoughts of Atletico boss Diego Simeone.
The enigmatic Argentine said of the situation following the match (via ESPN): “I’m without words.”
Griezmann has frequently been linked with a switch to Man Utd over the last six months, with Barcelona looking to revamp their ageing forward line.
Though his age would appear to contrast with the profile of players Man Utd have recently chosen to pursue, the club would surely be on alert if Griezmann’s situation in Spain deteriorated further.
