Atletico Madrid lock up Antoine Griezmann

Atletico Madrid announced today that French forward Antoine Griezmann has signed a long term deal with the club.

Antoine Griezmann is one of the hottest properties in world football but the dynamo recently tied his future to the club that gave him his big chance in Atletico Madrid. The French forward/midfielder has long been linked with moves to every major club in the English Premier League, most notable Chelsea FC because of its ties to Atletico, but this new development puts that speculation to rest.

Griezmann is yet another in a long line of prolific forwards to truly make their name at Atletico joining the likes of Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao, Diego Forlan, Diego Costa, and Fernando Torres the first time around. Atleti seem to churn out world class forwards the way Ajax churns out talented youth and Chelsea churn out loan prospects.

The Frenchman has been Atletico’s top scorer two seasons running and has helped establish them as firm contenders for La Liga since his arrival from Real Sociedad in 2014 for a fee believed to be £24 million. Griezmann had spent nearly a decade with Sociedad and came up through the club’s youth academy before establishing himself as a bona fide goal scoring threat in 2013.

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He missed Atletico’s magical title winning season but he has helped to prove that Los Indios were no mere one-hit-wonder in Spain. Last season of course they also came up just short in the Champions League Final against crosstown rival Real Madrid and are on the ascendancy in Europe.

This move is a big hit for Chelsea FC who have been long rumored to be interested in signing the Frenchman. There were even reports that the club would be willing to give up Diego Costa in order to land his elusive signature.

Griezmann is of course a very different player than the bruising Costa but the club seems to believe that his explosive temper may be more trouble than it is worth and have sought out replacements. This contract of course suggests that they will have to look elsewhere.

While Dmitri Payet has captured the imagination of the French public with his performances in Euro 2016, Griezmann has proven to be just as vital to the Les Bleus cause and central to their hopes of winning the tournament. He scored a vital goal against Albania to help France advance to the knockout stage and will be a key figure moving forward.

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The signing is a major coup for Atletico Madrid who have long been a selling club, especially when it comes to world-class forwards, but their recent step up in class has given them the financial ability to hold on to their best players. Griezmann may still one day leave the club to a “bigger club” but when you are playing deep in Europe and competing for La Liga titles how much bigger of a club can you ask for?

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