June 11, (THEWILL)- The transfer news has picked up steam with the summer transfer window officially open and one side that is entering a phase of reorganisation that could potentially see a different squad from the one that completed the 2020/2021 season is La Liga side Barcelona.
There was a proper change of guard at the administrative level during the last season and current club president, Joan Laporta, returned to the helm after the disgraced exit of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned with his staff on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 to stave off a vote of no confidence.
In a bid to restore financial discipline, which took a hit in the final stages of Bartomeu’s presidency and which was completely ravaged by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Laporta has effected an audit of the club’s finances, coordinated club-wide cuts to wages and sought free transfers to keep the team competitive such as the signing of Manchester City legend, Sergio Aguero.
However, the wage bill of the squad still weighs heavily on their budget and as a way out, Barcelona is considering the offloading of squad players on high wages that have not properly clicked into expected form and who can be attractive to other clubs. One of such in the news making the rounds is French forward Antoine Griezmann.
Reportedly, the player the Catalan club acquired from title rivals Atletico Madrid has been offered to former Serie A champions Juventus, who are in a position of potentially losing their Portuguese superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, and can turn to Griezmann as like-for-like replacement when that happens.
It remains an immediate possibility that Ronaldo will commit his future to one of the suitors currently desiring to take him from the bigwigs in Turin. For now, interests in the legend’s boots this summer include two of his previous clubs, Manchester United and Real Madrid and former Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint-Germain.
This has opened an opportunity for Barca to take the initiative and offer Griezmann to Juve to give them a reliable player to secure as backup so that Ronaldo’s exit does not create a striker vacuum in the squad, should he leave this summer. To their advantage, the previous season was Griezmann’s best in a Barca shirt to make him an attractive transfer target, improving Barca’s selling potential.
Although it does not smooth out the difficulty the Frenchman faced to find something of the form that made him a favourite at Atletico before his move to Camp Nou two seasons ago, Griezmann has what it takes to get some of that back in Juve. Because he works best when he has a true centre forward to play off, as is evident when he combines with Olivier Giroud or Kylian Mbappe for France, he can slot in perfectly with Alvaro Morata and function better in Turin.
What could sweeten the combination will be if Juve can bring in a player like Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane and allow Griezmann’s play to meld in with the Englishman’s clinical form in front of goal. It will create a scoring machine at Juve that will be a threat to the best defences in Serie A and across Europe.
Yet, Barca’s hopes of getting the French froward off their payroll will largely depend on the willingness of Juve to engage, the plans they have for their frontline and the personal terms they can agree with Griezmann for his services. Any of these can put the plan asunder but Laporta will hope it sails through for the sake of the club and Griezmann too
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
