Manchester United trying to hi-jack Barcelona’s deal for Griezmann

Manchester United have made a stunning last ditch attempt to hi-jack Barcelona’s deal for Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, claims The Sun.

Griezmann will leave Atletico this summer after five years at the club and is widely expected to join Barcelona.

The Spanish giants earmarked Griezmann as a top transfer target earlier this year but his potential arrival has reportedly drawn polarising opinions from within the Barcelona dressing room.

Atletico still believe the 28-year-old will sign for Barcelona this summer and their chief executive, Gil Marin, even revealed on Wednesday night the player agreed terms with their rivals back in March.

While it seems Barcelona have cooled their interest in Griezmann, it’s likely they are waiting until the start of next month to sign the player when his release clause drops from €200m (£178.2m) to €120m (£106.9m).

Nevertheless, Paris Saint-Germain and United are still monitoring Griezmann’s future and the latter are even prepared to break their transfer record to land him.

United are ready to pay £95m to sign Griezmann this summer and the hope is that Atletico will accept a slightly lower fee than his €120m release clause so he doesn’t end up going to a direct rivals.

Griezmann is willing to take a pay cut in order to join Barcelona but that would not necessarily be the case for United, who would be able to match the terms in his Atletico contract, if not offer an improved salary.    

The Atletico No.7 finished last season with 15 goals and nine assists in LaLiga, four fewer goal contributions than he managed in 2017/18.