This man needs no introduction, if you’re unaware of who he is then you must have been living under a rock for the past couple of years. Antoine Griezmann has been one of the most talked about stars of La Liga this season due to his goal-scoring prowess. Last season at Real Sociedad, he was thought of as a creative winger with an eye for goal. This season however, since his reported £24 million move to Atletico Madrid, there is clear evidence of a transformation into a lethal goal-scorer. These statistics from Squawka shown below state the development from a creative winger to a player proving himself in front of goal over the past three seasons.
At only 24 years old, Griezmann is regarded as one of the hottest properties around the globe – it’s only natural that he will gather a lot of speculation regarding his future. There’s been various rumours floating around, from changing his agent to super-agent Jorge Mendes, to it being a done deal. Now I’m a believer of the saying ‘there’s no smoke without fire’. Chelsea have a very strong relationship with Atletico and I wouldn’t be half surprised if Antoine made the move from the Spanish capital to the English capital. With Chelsea supposedly still on the hunt for that final attacking piece of the puzzle, many people are looking at him as the man to fill the vacant right wing position in the blues starting 11.
This is where I disagree. Fifteen of his 22 goals this season have been scored while playing as the striker. In fact, he’s not played as a right winger at all this season, so has no evidence that he can play there, let alone continue his form in that position. Being left footed you’d assume he’d be able to fit in well to a right wing position and cut in on his deadly left foot, but we’re yet to find out whether or not he’d adapt.
Griezmann has seven goals so far this season that have come via set pieces, so he’d add another dimension to Chelsea’s offensive ability from them too. To save confusion, these seven goals aren’t directly from set-pieces, however he’s got a knack of getting on the end of deliveries. At only 5-feet-9-inches, he has scored five of his goals with his head. In comparison, you wouldn’t see Raheem Sterling, Eden Hazard or Juan Mata doing this.
With Hazard having such a good season, we’ve seen glimpses of him playing in the no. 10 position, and I believe his future lies there. With this positional change, I believe he can become even more influential in creating chances and scoring even more goals. With Eden moving to the no. 10 position, this would leave the left wing position open, and that is where I believe Chelsea would benefit from buying Antoine Griezmann – a natural left-footed player who can use his terrifying pace to get past opposition defences and whip in a cross, or use his fantastic ball control to cut inside and take a shot. Griezmann has a strong defensive contribution too, which will have been drilled into him while playing for Atletico, who are La Liga’s equivalent of Chelsea in terms of footballing style. This is something Jose Mourinho would be looking for in a player as we all know, Jose values the hard workers.
The Daily Mail are reporting the fee Chelsea would have to pay for Griezmann would be around the £43 million mark, however I believe it’ll be more towards £35 million. Atletico will want to make a profit and rightly so, as the player has improved and his reputation has been increased. Although I don’t think Chelsea would pay as much as is being reported, especially under the FPP guidelines. With transfer talk suggesting Filipe Luis may be on his way back to Atletico this summer, there’s a possibility he might be included in a deal for Griezmann which will no doubt lower the cost too. With Kurt Zouma already at Chelsea, Griezmann wouldn’t be the only Frenchman in the Chelsea ranks. Also the chance to work under Jose Mourinho is obviously something to be desired, with most players lucky enough to have the experience admitting Jose made them into better footballers. Only time will tell, with the transfer window not yet open, it’s already shaping up to be a very interesting summer.
