Chelsea FCs long search for in for a right winger with an offensive mindset continues as the team is reportedly interested in Atletico Madrids Antoine Griezmann. The irony here being that the Blues could have signed him at a much cheaper price in an earlier window.
According to Oier Fano Dadebat of IBTimes.co.uk, Chelsea FC passed on the chance to sign Antoine Griezmann and signed Mohamed Salah instead in the January transfer window last season.
Dadebat contends that José Marino was making inquiries about Griezmann as far back as last year before the French international exploded onto the scene at Atletico Madrid. Griezmann was lighting up the charts at Real Sociedad and was making himself known as a hot young commodity in the transfer market. His performances with Sociedad earned him a call up to the France World Cup squad where he was one of Les Bleus best players.
At the time his price tag was relatively high for a player of such little experience at the top level. He had played for Sociedad for four years and helped lead them from the second division to a Champions League place in a very short time.
However Mourinho still thought that the 24 million price tag on his head was far too much to spend on such a young player. Instead Mourinho spent 11 million on Mohamed Salah who does not look like he will be a Chelsea FC player for much longer. The Blues may still profit on Salahs eventual sale to Fiorentina but it is easy to see why Mourinho may now regret his decision.
Now it appears that Griezmanns price has nearly doubled after a fantastic season in La Liga that has seen him jump up to third in the league scoring charts behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He has helped Atletico recover from the loss of Diego Costa and Filipe Luis and has helped them fight for a potential Champions League place next season.
Atletico is known for developing young talent and selling them off to the highest bidder and obviously they have done business with Chelsea in the past. They are a type of club that knows they cannot afford to keep their star players and so they simply replace them every few seasons. Griezmann looks to be the next star that Atletico will cash in on but considering they paid a high price for him they will likely ask for every cent or just short of their buyout clause.
These buyout clauses trigger strange things with taxes for both clubs involved so the clubs may find a way around it but he will still cost Chelsea FC quite a bit. Still, he is a more reasonable purchase than a player like Gareth Bale who would set the Blues back years in terms of FFP and could still provide that same offensive spark opposite Eden Hazard.
Bringing in an explosive player like Griezmann would add more balance to the Chelsea FC team and could take away a great deal of defensive attention from Hazard. Both players have been incredible carrying the offensive load for their respective clubs so just imagine them sharing the load and terrorizing opposing defenses with their pace and trickery.
