Because of Ronald Koeman, Griezmann finally canceled plans to leave Barca
French striker Antoine Griezmann was planning to leave Barcelona this summer. Fortunately, the new coach Ronald Koeman managed to make the former Atletico Madrid lose his mind.
The 29-year-old striker was redeemed from Atletico Madrid for 120 million euros in the summer transfer market last year. Of course, Barcelona are willing to spend that high in the hope that the player can become their mainstay on the front lines.
Unfortunately, the performance of the French National Team players in this debut season is still not satisfactory. Griezmann has only been able to record no more than 15 goals and four assists from 48 appearances in all competitions for the Catalan Giants.
That minimal contribution has more or less contributed to Barcelona’s failure this season.
As is known, the Blaugrana failed to win the championship trophy and ended the campaign with a tragic 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich in the European Champions League quarter-finals.
With these facts, the former Real Sociedad player is often the target of criticism. He is still considered not optimal and does not fit the Barcelona style of play.
Griezmann also often only warms up the Barcelona bench. This situation then made the player plan to leave.
This was revealed directly by his transfer agent, Eric Olhats.
“Before the 2-8 defeat to Bayern in the Champions League, Antoine had a desire to leave Barcelona. The reality is Griezmann feels he is not part of the club’s plans, he cannot continue like this.” Olhats said to the RMC.
However, the arrival of a new coach changes everything. Ronald Koeman who has been appointed to replace Quique Setien has spoken privately with Griezmann.
These talks led the former Atletico Madrid player to finally agree to stay at Camp Nou next season.
“He was really serious about learning how to go about it. Then, afterwards we found out what it was like and the conversation with Koeman convinced him to stay,”
“Koeman tells what his plan is, because he views Antoine Griezmann as an important player for the future,” concluded Olhats.
Griezmann’s decision to stay feels right, because on the one hand Barcelona plans to sell Luis Suarez.