According to English newspaper The Sun, Barcelona have agreed to sign Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid for £100million. Griezmann has a lower release clause of £88 million but Barcelona are ready to pay extra to push the deal through. Barcelona have a good relationship with Atletico and hope to maintain the relationship with the extra 12 million. Griezmann has been linked with a move away from Atletico for the past two seasons now and almost left the club last summer but because of Atletico’s transfer ban chose to stay as the club wouldn’t have been able to sign a replacement.
With Luis Suarez’s declining form, Barcelona needed to sign a striker to replace him but whether Griezmann will replace him directly or will they push Lionel Messi ahead as a striker remains to be seen. Lionel Messi with his advancing age is better suited to be playing on the shoulder of the last defender rather than playing deep as he did this season. Barcelona need to strengthen their midfield to reduce their dependence on Messi. This season, Messi has had to drop deep in most games and rescue the midfield. Coutinho is expected to shoulder most of the responsibility especially with Iniesta’s departure.
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