Stand on your tip toes and you can almost see that January transfer window.
With that in mind, it’s high time we started looking for clues as to which big name players could (but almost suddenly won’t) be on the cusp of a big-money move to the Premier League in a couple of months.
After it looked stitched on to happen at one stage in the summer, Antoine Griezmann is yet again being linked with that move to Manchester United. After a transfer ban for the La Liga side prompted the French international to stay put in the Spanish capital, some are now starting to believe his time there is coming to an end.
Griezmann was substituted by Diego Simeone during the 0-0 draw with Real Madrid on Saturday. As he departed the pitch, he was met with boos and jeers from his own supporters.
“In my house I was taught that while someone is part of the family you stand up for them until the death,” Simeone is quoted in the Mail as saying on the matter.
The report explains that his use of “while” has been interpreted by supporters as a signal that the player may be nearing an exit.
This, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean he’s likely to be pictured posing with a freshly-inked contract alongside a grinning Ed Woodward before the winter’s out. After all, it’s still highly unlikely that any player will move for big money in the middle of a season. As well as this, Griezmann’s buyout clause with Atleti is also said to stand at €200m until summer, when it will be halved.
Even then, with speculation growing that Barcelona are interested in the player, it seems Griezmann may not end up at Old Trafford after all.
