DBasia.news – Antoine Griezmann is still warmly rumored to have left Atletico Madrid to Barcelona. Barcelona legend, Xavi Hernandez, also discussed the matter and was worried that Griezmann could be a problem for Barca.
Griezmann, 28, decided to end his dedication to defending Atletico for five years at the end of the 2018-19 season. Atletico has no choice but to sell him. Barcelona became the sole competitor to win him.
As Manchester City and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) have backed away from the competition to get service for the 2018 World Cup champion. Barcelona asked Atletico to redeem the purchase clause of 125 million euros.
Xavi sees a potential problem for Barca if recruiting Griezmann, not because of the price, but the chance to become a problem in the player locker room, as there are rumors circulating that Griezmann is not wanted by squad players and fans.
Especially fans, they are still disappointed with the former Real Sociedad player as last season they refused to join Barcelona. That’s why, Xavi questioned who wants him, from Barcelona, to recruit Griezmann.
“I understand what he did last summer (Griezmann refused to join Barcelona) hurts,” Xavi told Sport-English.
“If the reason is a refusal (from a Barcelona player) just because of the football issue, I will talk to players in the player’s locker room to make them understand that he is the player who can give something.”
“We still have to see it, however, who recruited him? Director of Sports? (Ernesto) Valverde? President (Josep Maria Bartomeu)?”
Clarity is needed because the essence of recruiting players is in the needs of the team, in this case, the coaching staff, to look for players who can improve the quality of the team and fix the side that is lacking in the team.
“If I come to Barca I will ask for a recruit (new), and if the player’s locker room does not agree with any of them, I will speak to them, but in the end I decide. Whether it’s Griezmann or anyone,” Xavi added .
“Things are different if the coach doesn’t want it too. So we have a problem,” he said.
This season, Griezmann has scored 21 goals and has scored a total of 133 goals in 256 appearances with Diego Simeone’s Atletico. Five years with Atletico, Griezmann won the Europa League title, the European Super Cup and the Spanish Super Cup.