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Man Utd backed to hijack Antoine Griezmann transfer due to ‘weird’ Barcelona situation
MANCHESTER UNITED could potentially hijack Barcelona’s move for Antoine Griezmann, admits European football expert Gabriele Marcotti.
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Griezmann announced in May he would be leaving Atletico Madrid this summer.
Barcelona are favourites to land the Frenchman whose release clause will drop to £120million at the start of July.
However, Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu recently claimed there had been no contact at all with Griezmann over a deal.
Manchester United have shown strong interest in Griezmann in the past but he has always remained committed to Atletico.
He would be a very good signing for United
Marcotti says if United were to sign the 28-year-old it would help convince Paul Pogba to stay.
But he reckons the Red Devils would have to shift some players before making a move for Griezmann.
“Sure, if they want Griezmann they can go in all guns blazing,” Marcotti told ESPN FC.
“I think it would help Pogba obviously.
“But, you know what, they would have already been knocking on that door.
“It is an interesting one, people in Barcelona are saying ‘give it to July 1, July 1 the transfer market opens, Griezmann’s going to be announced’.
“They seem so, so sure of it and again officially you have to wait until July 1 to do this.
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“But it’s weird that it’s kind of gone quiet on the Griezmann front. Maybe it’s tactical, I don’t know.
“Yeah, he would be a very good signing for United.
“Although they’d still need to shift some players obviously.”