Manchester United are basically the Real Madrid of England. They’re the team that make a marquee signing every season, bringing in the best players in the world. This summer was Romelu Lukaku, last season it was Paul Pogba, now the papers are hoping for the Red Devils to splash the cash on their next marquee guy, Antoine Griezmann.
The Frenchman has become a cult figure at Atletico Madrid, but everyone is sure that he is destined for greater things. A move to Manchester United is exactly what those bigger things represent. However, I’m the party pooper that’s going to tell you why United won’t & don’t need to sign Antoine Griezmann.
Here’s why Manchester United won’t sign Antoine Griezmann.
Sufficient attacking depth
I don’t think people really understand how strong Manchester United’s attacking depth is. They literally have four strikers in their arsenal that could start for nearly every team in the league. José Mourinho has Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Anthony Martial & Marcus Rashford all available to play up front. The fact that Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have been forced to play on the wings only reiterates how strong their attacking depth. Now you tell me what Antoine Griezmann would add to an already strong squad?
What all the signing of Griezmann would add is locker room headache. Being signed for over a £100m should automatically guarantee him a starting place, but the exploits of Romelu Lukaku have made him undroppable. Each of Manchester United’s attackers will easily score at least 10+ goals each, meaning signing an attacking forward is not a priority for now or in the near future.
United need strengthening in other areas
It wouldn’t be very efficient of Manchester United to spend a world record fee on a 26-year old attacker when they have more glaring holes in the team to address. With Luke Shaw, forever in the physio room, Daley Blind not up to the pace of the PL and Ashley Young near the end of his career, Manchester United desperately need a left full-back.
To be a title-winning team, you can’t have a notable weak spot in your starting XI for other teams to expose. The £100mm spent on Griezmann would be better invested in pursuing Alex Sandro or David Alaba. This would easily make Manchester United a complete team on the planet.
The team already has perfect chemistry
Watching Manchester United steamroll Everton the other day was an absolute delight. Despite me not supporting them, I couldn’t help but appreciate how finely balanced the Red Devils are. Every single one in the team knows their roles, movement patterns and the required amount of support they must provide for each other. Why change a winning formula?
It’s no doubt that Antoine Griezmann has qualities that no one at Manchester United currently has, but whether these qualities would significantly improve United is the question and if it did, would it be worth the £100m price tag? I don’t think so.
Manchester United play a more expansive style of football than what Antoine is currently used to. Mourinho would highly appreciate the Frenchman’s off the ball work rate, but he already has all his players displaying such a work rate now so that it wouldn’t be that much of a bonus.
