Manchester City have ‘asked’ Barcelona about Antoine Griezmann this summer but received a firm rebuttal from the Spanish club in response.
That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who report on the player’s increasingly fragile situation.
The Frenchman joined Barça in a huge, well publicised and controversial £108m deal from Atlético Madrid last summer but has not had the first year he would have been dreaming of.
While a tally of 14 goals and four assists in 43 games is a decent return, his time in Catalunya so far has been marred with talk of him failing to settle and an inability to work with Lionel Messi.
The situation has only worsened under Quique Setién, who recently admitted Griezmann ‘destabilises’ his team and subjected the player to the embarrassment of being a 90th-minute substitute against his former team.
Naturally, such a situation has sparked rumours that Barcelona will look to cash in this summer and cut their losses, particularly if they complete a big-money move for Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martínez.
There is interest too, according to Mundo, who say that Manchester City have ‘asked’ about his situation and are known to ‘like’ him a lot.
Unfortunately for Pep Guardiola’s side, they were met with a firm rejection from Barça, who have made it clear they don’t intend to sell to Manchester City or any other suitor this summer.
As far as the La Liga giants are concerned, Griezmann is an ‘important footballer’, and they are determined to get him back to his best.
Thus, they have made it clear he will ‘not enter into any trade’ this summer as their ‘desire’ is that he becomes one of the key players in their team.
That seems unlikely to happen under Setién, who seems destined to be replaced by a man who can get the best out of the Frenchman moving forward.
