Trotting toward the corner flag, a beaming smile on his face, Antoine Griezmann performed a little jig that culminated in a leap and a fist pump. The routine had come to be the Atletico Madrid striker’s customary goal celebration, but this one was different. The animation was greater, the look on his face telling. 

Griezmann had surprised himself. 

Moments earlier, following a set-piece sequence that had become a pinball exercise at Deportivo La Coruna’s Riazor back in April, the Frenchman had added an exclamation point to the move, soaring to blast a stunning bicycle kick past Depor goalkeeper Fabricio and into the top-left corner. Skilful, powerful and complex. It was breathtaking.

The goal was Griezmann’s 19th in the league and 22nd in all competitions. Minutes later, he added his 20th and 23rd respectively, extending Atletico Madrid’s unbeaten run, which had started in March, to 10 games.

Europe had been put on notice. A week later, the former Real Sociedad star made it 22 and 25—remarkable tallies when you consider he spent large portions of the first half of the season as a substitute.  

Predictably, the continent’s heavyweights have begun to lurk, looking to prise away another prolific goalscorer from the Vicente Calderon. According to the Guardian, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea have considered a move for Griezmann. In the Spanish capital, Marca added that Bayern Munich are also interested.

As such, Diego Simeone’s answer when quizzed by Marca in June about which Atleti players were categorically not for sale was somewhat ominous. “Koke, Godin and that’s about it,” said Simeone. Amid transfer interest from cashed-up heavy hitters, it felt as though the Atleti manager was subtly instructing the club’s fans to brace themselves for the worst.

Yet at the same time, one’s mind was also taken back to the early parts of last season, when Simeone refused to treat Griezmann like a star despite the club’s outlay of €30 million to make him a marquee summer signing, as we explained here at Bleacher Report in February: 

When he arrived at the Vicente Calderon, Griezmann wasn’t just in for a period of learning and development. He was also in for a reality check. As ESPN FC‘s Lee Roden put it, “At Real Sociedad, Griezmann was one of the stars. At Atletico there are no stars.”

Simeone wasn’t afraid to make the club’s marquee signing aware of that, playing him both sporadically and out of position in his opening months at the club. In no way would “El Cholo” ever make Griezmann feel like a star.

Early substitutions were extremely regular. Brief appearances at the end of games were, too. There was a shift in mentality that was needed, an alteration in how he viewed his game and his status within a group of players.

Until he’d fully embraced the Atletico way, the Simeone way, he’d be a peripheral figure.

For Simeone, leaving Griezmann off the list of players considered untouchable was perhaps a continuation of that, another effort to keep the 24-year-old’s feet grounded while his reputation, value and fame soar. On the banks of the Manzanares, Atletico Madrid have become what they are because their Argentinian leader won’t let them subscribe to individual acclaim. Simeone has clearly gone to great lengths to make Griezmann aware of that.

But what other clubs do is out of Simeone and Atleti’s control, and the reportedly circling Chelsea and Bayern Munich are only heightening Griezmann’s stardom. Consequently, Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo was forced to break Simeone’s tough love, describing the Frenchman as “un-transferrable” to Radio4G (h/t ESPN FC). “Nobody should doubt that,” he added. 

Cerezo stance is justified; Los Colchoneros can’t afford to lose their leading scorer. But it’s about more than just goals and output—it’s about the club’s investment into Griezmann. 

When Atletico brought the precocious winger from the Basque Country to the Spanish capital, there was a degree of risk involved. Griezmann had been a star at Real Sociedad, yes, but €30 million was a hefty sum for a player who still needed to do a lot of work before he could be classed among Europe’s elite.

Additionally, the France international wasn’t exactly the type Atleti wanted or needed; having lost Diego Costa, signing a powerful and explosive centre-forward was the club’s primary desire but one that couldn’t be satisfied until this summer’s purchase of Jackson Martinez.

Atletico took something of a punt on Griezmann, identifying a player who, while not the finished product, could be moulded to their liking with discipline and hard work. Initially, it was difficult. It took six months to begin seeing any substantial return. But by season’s end, Atleti had crafted the player they wanted, a very Atletico player—tenacious, intense, lethal and committed to a two-way existence.

They don’t want that hard work to now benefit someone else. 

In Simeone, Atleti possess an alluring manager, one players are now extremely keen to work under having seen the development he’s fast-tracked in so many others. And Griezmann is no exception, having expressed the way he’s learned to love El Cholo to Al Primer Torque (h/t Football Espana).

As such, amid transfer interest in the Frenchman, Atleti might have an important trump card in that sense if the interested parties were Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Manchester United, AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus. But they’re not. The lurking clubs are Chelsea and Bayern Munich. That means Mourinho and Pep Guardiola—perhaps the only two managers in the game with a reputation as rich as Simeone’s right now.

That’s likely to be attractive to Griezmann. And both outfits would have the resources to pay the forward’s €65 million buyout clause—a figure that would represent a massive profit on the player for Atletico but one whose departure would also leave a massive hole and feeling of emptiness.

Atletico fans will thus hope Cerezo is correct that Griezmann is “un-transferrable,” even if the reality is different. 

 

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