The transfer window is closed but talk of a transfer of French star Antoine Griezmann is making waves and rumours are that Manchester United want the player.
According to the Athletic, Antoine Griezmann could be forced to leave Atletico Madrid in January if the club’s dispute with Barcelona over the terms of the France forward’s loan deal cannot be resolved.
If that’s the case, Manchester United will look to seize the opportunity and rekindle their interest in the 31-year-old after a failed attempt in the summer.
Though this would mean the Manchester club would become a club with ‘retirees’ in its midst, the club believe this move could be a positive one.
Griezman is facing a situation that was similar to Cristiano Ronaldo after his return to the club right before the start of the season.
It took some time for Ronaldo to get to start matches under Eric Ten Hag who is clearly trying to say that he is the boss at Manchester United.
But to show interest in a player who did not start a game under Diego Simeone this season and is in the second year of his two-year loan from Barcelona, is amazing.
For one, you have a super-super star like Ronaldo and you hesitate to start him in matches or give him a bigger role, but you are chasing a soccer player who has not played more than 30 minutes (or so) in a match so far this season?
Griezmann is still playing for the French National Team and is known for his attacking, passing, and defensive abilities, and has previously played as an attacking midfielder, winger, and striker. In his prime, he was regarded as one of the greatest players in the world.
In 2016 and 2018, he was nominated for the Ballon d’Or and Best FIFA Men’s Player awards. Griezmann set a record in association football when he signed for rivals Barcelona for €120 million in 2019, becoming the fifth-most expensive player of all time.
FEW ever heard of 31-year-old Frenchman Antoine Griezmann.
He always played a low-key at Qatar’s World Cup.
But rightly so, he was at the centre of the praise on Wednesday night after a sensational performance in France’s 2-0 win over a brave Morocco side in their World Cup semi-final.
The midfielder produced a brilliantly elusive run to set up France’s first goal after just five minutes, and was a menace for the Atlas Lions all evening as he continued to excel in a more combative role than he has often played.
TOP CLASS SHOW
Former England legend striker Alan Shearer, who anchors the BBC coverage of the Qatar tournament, felt Griezmann was the best player on the pitch, as he explained: “he was man of the match for me”.
He added: “You’ve got to give credit to the way (coach) Didier Deschamps has used him. He’s a super talent, a really clever player who reads the game really well. When you think of the players they’ve got missing, him and Aurelien Tchouameni were fantastic on the defensive work.’
Likewise, Didier Drogba was also impressed by the changes Griezmann had made to play a deeper role, saying he “looked more like N’Golo Kante”, but was still able to move like a true forward as “it’s like cycling, you never forget it!”
NOT SCORED SO FAR
Ironically, Griezmann has not scored a single goal at the World Cup in Qatar but has created several chances while also dropping deep and breaking up play.
“I feel good in my legs, in my mind…the work I did on vacation and later with Atletico did me good, it was what I needed. I try to help the team as much as possible, as always,” Griezmann said.
There was also praise from former England star defender Rio Ferdinand, who called him “the best defensive player in the tournament” before adding: ‘We could show great clips of him getting forward and creating things but we can probably show you as many clips of his defending.’
At 35, this World Cup is almost certain to be Messi’s last chance of winning the prestigious honour. Griezmann knows this and is concerned about facing his former Barcelona team-mate. He said: “When a team has Leo with them, it’s completely different.”
Griezmann, who is being deployed in a deeper role by France boss Deschamps, insisted he was impressed by Morocco after Wednesday’s game. Yet the Atletico Madrid forward is expecting a much tougher tie against Argentina on Sunday.
Will he now get another chance to show his skills on Sunday and steal the big show?
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
The transfer period this year has ended, and teams with their current players will have to make do with what they have. Rumours were rife Cristiano Ronaldo has been demanding to leave Manchester United for quite a while now but he is definitely staying with them at least till the next transfer period.
According to some British media, the Portuguese superstar had intentions to leave Old Trafford in order to represent a team in the Champions League. Unsatisfied that his team will be playing in the Europa League instead of the Champions, this is due to United scoring their lowest ever point in 30 years.
The news reports say Ronaldo has expressed his desire to leave Manchester United especially after the numerous defeats they had received. But in reality, the superstar never said he is leaving Man Utd.But Erik ten Hag has benched him in the past two games in the Premier League.
He returned to United from his previous club Juventus last year. His early days were spent in United and that was decades ago. He scored 24 goals across all games and his two previous managers were having difficulties handling the club, some blamed Ronaldo for United’s poor performances.
The same reports wanted Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s current agent, to have tried to arrange multiple transfers for him, but unfortunately the transfer period has ended. Now with the recent cash injection towards the club, they feel that maybe he might just stay in the club.
Ronaldo came to the club again during Rag Rangnick’s tenure and he left in the middle of this year and was subsequently replaced by the Dutchman. Some speculated whether Ronaldo will be an important player in the team and others have accused him of losing the necessary qualities in order to play within his new manager’s rules.
Just a few weeks back, an unnamed Saudi Arabian club wanted to purchase Ronaldo’s services for £211 million. The fee was to be settled within two years, which would equate to £2 million a week. Unfortunately for him, his wish did not come true and he will have to fight among his teammates if he wants to be on the field.
Now, with all that has happened, Ronaldo will be expected to stay put with United and play another half of a season of the Europa League, to the least. The staff at United’s training facility stated that he has improved his mindset for the better. It was also alleged that he accepted the fact that he has to remain with them.
Just a few days ago, Manchester United had purchased Antony from Ajax and the total paid was £85.5 million. Thus far, the club has acquired five new players including two from Ajax and it is hopeful that they would maintain a good streak in the Premier League to bring back their good name.
Mauro Icardi Possible New Player For Manchester United?
After the Brentford disaster losing 4-0 and with a defense fail in their previous game, Manchester United is looking for a new player to beef up its chances.
This incident is also the first time that Manchester United had lost its opening two games since 1992. Furthermore, this is the first time since 1960 when they took six goals in their net in the first two games.
On top of that, Manchester United has scored only one goal, courtesy of the Brighton player Alexis Mac Allister who scored an own goal in the match against. If this explains why they have only scored one goal so far, it also shows how poor the team’s performance is.
Now, there have been talks of United wanting to take Mauro Icardis from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
According to a sports site, PSG manager Christophe Galtier mentioned that Mauro is free to leave their team. The 29-year-old footballer has been left out of his team’s roster for the first two Ligue 1 games this year.
Gatlier said ‘His absence last weekend was linked to a purely sporting choice.’ He then added ‘I saw Mauro at the beginning of the week to tell him that I will restrict the group and I don’t want to work with 25 outfield players, it’s not possible to have players on the sides, I won’t repeat myself.’
Mauro built an impressive background during his stay at PSG, scoring 38 goals in 92 matches in the last few years. He further scored 124 goals while playing at Inter for the last six years. Playing for some of the best teams in Europe, he is the current focus of other football clubs’ interest.
Otherwise a good player, his current team is looking at him as a surplus player and wouldn’t mind letting him go.
‘Mauro has had very little playing time in the last few seasons, I think it is important for him to get back on track. I think it is important for him to get back into the game,’ said Gatlier.
The club is now helping Mauro look for the best solution possible for him with regards to moving towards greener pastures.
Mauro Icardi wasn’t the first player Manchester United opted for, as last week they were in talks with Marko Arnautovic of Bologna. The deal fell out after failing to reach an agreement with regards to the transfer fee.
The recent problems faced by Erik ten Hag’s team where they shipped six goals in the last two matches is a major issue. Hence, Manchester United is now anxiously looking for a new front man to help with their current predicaments.
To be honest, most of the football players in the Premier League and Champions League are quite handsome. There are some stories that certain people watch the sport just to take a peak off their favourite good looking superstar.
It is a topic rarely talked about as footballers are usually talked about their skills on the field and also their responses in the media, not really about them being handsome or not. Ronaldo has gotten backlash due to his media skills where he exposed the underlying tricks of his club, as an example.
There are still some fans that talk about the looks of the players, but most of the time its to mock their fan base. Regardless, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this list was done by sportsbrief based on the data they collected.
List of the handsome footballers:
Number five, Antoine Griezmann
Image of Antoine Griezmann, from Wikipedia.
Antoine Griezmann who is now 31-years-old and plays as a forward for the La Liga club, Atlético. Generally speaking, women are usually biasedly more attracted to French men, and fortunately for Griezmann, he is French.
Image of Antoine Griezmann, from Wikipedia.
He is an Aries and is about 176 centimetres tall. He made his senior debut for France at the age of 22-years-old back in 2014. He is not only handsome but also has skills as he won the silver boot in 2018 for helping France score in that year’s World Cup.
Number four, Cristiano Ronaldo
Image of Cristiano Ronaldo, from Wikipedia.
Cristiano Ronaldo is in fact the most popular player in the world. He might even be the most popular person in general with his 500 million Instagram followers. He literally has more followers than Kim Kardashian. That is how popular he is and it appears that he knows he’s handsome.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversies and achievements have already been spoken on Sportsry a number of times, but his personal life is not entirely dissected here. He is a married man with a few kids and he is an Aquarius.
Image of Cristiano Ronaldo, from Wikipedia.
Furthermore, he is extremely tall at 187 centimetres. Having a nice face, incredible skills, being Portuguese and being taller than most average men is a blessing in disguise.
Number three, Olivier Giroud
Image of Olivier Giroud, from Wikipedia.
Olivier Giroud is another Frenchman similar to Griezmann. He has been a striker for the Italian club AC Milan and has a strong female fan base. He is 36-years-old and he also plays for the French national team.
Giroud made his international debut at the age of 25-years-old and has made more than 110 international appearances. He also helped France win the FIFA World Cup back in 2018, and has won the bronze boot as he helped France to be the runner up in the UEFA Euro 2016.
Image of Olivier Giroud, from Wikipedia.
Furthermore, he is a Libra and is freakishly tall (which many girls would already count as handsome) at 193 centimetres. It is a given why his female fans like him.
Number two, George Best
Image of George Best in 1976, from Wikipedia.
George Best will always be remembered as a football legend, regardless of him not ever participating in the World Cup. Prior to Cristiano Ronaldo, he was one of the biggest football stars of his era and was the blueprint for the current generation of football celebrities.
The Northern Irish man was also known for his career with Manchester United. He was a winger and an attacking midfielder. Furthermore his sign is Gemini and he was 175 centimetres tall.
Number one, if it’s not obvious enough, David Beckham
Image of David Beckham, from Wikipedia.
The now retired football player, who is a massive superstar post his football career, David Beckham is considered as the most handsome football player. Again, beauty is subjective, but fans mostly agree that he is handsome.
He is one of the most adored players in England, and has done a number of achievements for his country in football. He is the third player on this list belonging to Manchester United. It appears that the club has a thing for good looking overachieving players.
Image of David Beckham, from Wikipedia.
He is a Taurus, and is 180 centimetres tall. Beckham is now 47-years-old and has four children and a happy marriage with Victoria Beckham, the former Spice Girl.
Manchester United had an awful start to this season and Cristiano Ronaldo is not too happy with some of the club’s decisions. It appears with the recent winnings and the proper stable guidance by Ten Hag, the club is looking at better days.
Casemiro, who is a five-time Champion League winner was the most recent purchase done by United. They are far away from finishing the player structure. Ronaldo scored for them impressively last season, with 24 goals in 38 appearances.
However, the ageing footballer, who is 37 now, was playing for a team that was run by three managers and was jumping from one crisis to another crisis. Anyways, regardless of his contributions, the club did not win any trophy last year as they finished in sixth place.
Now, rumours are brewing that Anthony, who is a winger, is going to join United from his club Ajax. Ronaldo has yet to prove that Manchester United can continue on without him as Ten Hag’s wise decisions will help the team.
Spending €95 million in purchasing Anthony, and Ronaldo is still the only forward in the team that can score goals in a constant manner. The club has to be considering a new future without Ronaldo in it.
Sir Alex Furgeson at the time removed striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and shipped him to Real Madrid all the way back in 2006. At the time this was seen as mad courage as Van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals in 219 games.
The main reason why is that Van Nistelrooy had been a sombre presence for younger players in the locker room. It was stunting and restricting the growth of a much younger teammate, Ronaldo. Sir Alex Furgeson later admitted that it was a wise decision to let him go.
The end of the transfer deadline is approaching and is just a few days away, Ronaldo is in talks with an opponent to leave Manchester United again. There is a strong possibility that he might finally leave United again, and this time probably for good.
Ever since they have not been qualified in the Champions League, he has been fighting for a transfer. It is alleged that he might be joining Chelsea this year. Jorge Mendes, who is Ronaldo’s agent, is reported to have been in talks with the blues.
Erik ten Hag is still adamant that he wants Ronaldo on his team despite benching the player for multiple times. Ironically, just a few days ago there were news reports on why Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea’s manager, was not that keen on Ronaldo.
It was clear Tuchel wasn’t interested in signing Ronaldo, as he was apparently influenced by Ralf Rangnick. Rangnick was Manchester United’s previous manager before Ten Hag. Todd Boehly was excited to sign Ronaldo, but as usual Tuchel was firm with his decision.
Rangnick told Tuchel that Ronaldo’s lack of desire to press the opposing team will not suit Chelsea’s methods well. Hence Tuchel decided to take his friend’s advice, but things may change in the next few hours.
